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Dogecoin, a canine-themed cryptocurrency that has been promoted by Elon Musk, is rallying ahead of a Friday deadline for the world’s richest man to complete his on-again/off-again acquisition of Twitter.
The token, trading under the ticker symbol DOGE, is up by 17% over the past 24 hours, according to Forbes’ data, while more valuable cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and ether are moving sideways.
As of 10:55 a.m. EDT, it is the 11th largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $10.36 billion, worth 7.77 cents.
DOGE’s price tends to react to Musk-related news as the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX has long expressed support for the coin, albeit comically on occasion. The billionaire has tweeted about mining dogecoin with his kids and SpaceX putting “literal Dogecoin on the literal moon.”
In January, Tesla even started to accept dogecoin as payment for some of its merchandise. A few months later, Musk said he personally owns dogecoin, along with bitcoin and ether, and doesn’t plan to sell those holdings.
The token hit its record-high price of 74 cents in May 2021 in the leadup to Musk’s appearance on “Saturday Night Live” but tumbled 30% after he called it a “hustle.”
