Elon Musk tweets, and DOGE triples overnight

Dogecoin (DOGE) may just be the most valuable joke in history.

The popular cryptocurrency, which famously began as a joke, soared to new all-time highs Friday, briefly rising above 40 cents after trading below a penny as recently as January. 

It helps when one of the most powerful people on the planet is in your corner. 

Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, who has shared vaguely supportive messages about Doge frequently on social media in 2021, tweeted “Doge Barking at the Moon,” late Wednesday night. 

Chart courtesy of TradingView. Illustration by Stephen Stirling.

By Friday morning, amid frenzied buying, DOGE soared to 42 cents briefly — more than tripling in a period of 24 hours. Its market cap now sits just shy of $50 billion, according to TradingView. 

Not bad for a gag. 

DOGE was started in 2013 by Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus, who initially created it as a joke based off the popular meme of a Shiba Inu. Its architecture is based off of Litecoin. 

DOGE has long since evolved from its less-than-serious origins. It has a dedicated following and community, which exploded when Musk began tweeting about the cryptocurrency earlier this year.  

It’s certainly not the first time Musk has tweeted about DOGE. In January and February, he tweeted about the cryptocurrency repeatedly, leading to price surges each time. He began vaguely, and gradually became more direct. 

DOGE has also become a darling of the WallStreetBets movement on Reddit. In January, the price of Doge more than doubled when a discussion of it became popular on the now iconic subreddit.