# Business

Meme cryptocurrency ‘Dogecoin’ surge 62% in 24 hours

This surge in prices has pushed company’s market capitalisation to $6.84 billion at the time of reporting.

SNS | New Delhi | February 4, 2021 4:48 pm

Meme cryptocurrency ‘Dogecoin’ surge 62% in 24 hours

Dogecoin, a virtual currency originally created as a joke soared 61.97 per cent in a span of 24 hours on Thursday evening to hit a market capitalisation of $6.84 billion. It seems that a series of tweets by Tesla CEO Elon Musk has pushed the prices even further.

After staying away from Twitter for less than two days Musk broke his self-imposed silence on Thursday and made several tweets related to the launch of new Starlink satellites and Dogecoin.

He shared a picture of a rocket to the moon and later he tweeted “Doge” with further comment. This latest tweet was similar to Musk’s December tweet, which also led to a surge in Dogecoin prices.

In the last 24 hours, the cryptocurrency has hit a high of $0.059681 and low of $0.031041 after opening at $0.032925. During this 24-hour long period it has hit an all-time high of $0.078175, Coindesk data showed.

This surge in prices has pushed company’s market capitalisation to $6.84 billion at the time of reporting. At this valuation, Dogecoin can enter the list of top 100 Indian companies.

On the other hand, its competitor Bitcoin also climbed 5.4 per cent to $37,701.43.

Dogecoin soared exponentially after a Reddit forum set its sights on pumping it up.

Earlier, WallStreetBets was behind the GameStop rally, which was looking to pump up cryptocurrencies.

Created in 2013, Dogecoin is based on the popular “doge” meme at the time which involved a Shiba Inu dog, which is also a logo of the cryptocurrency. It was initially started as a joke but has since found a community.