Bitcoin rival surges 35% after Elon Musk tweets about it

Tesla boss changes Twitter bio to ‘Former CEO of Dogecoin’

Elon Musk mentioned Dogecoin on Twitter, causing its price to surge (Getty Images)

The price of a novelty cryptocurrency has surged by more than a third after tech billionaire Elon Musk mentioned its name on Twitter.

Dogecoin rose in value from just over one third of a cent (£0.0025) to half a cent, pushing its overall market cap above $600 million in the hours following Mr Musk’s tweet.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who also changed his Twitter bio to “Former CEO of Dogecoin”, tweeted: “One word: Doge.”

Mr Musk’s tweet echoed a similar proclamation from whistleblower and privacy advocate Edward Snowden, who wrote last week: “One word: Bitcoin.”

Mr Snowden’s tweet came amid a record-breaking surge for the cryptocurrency, which saw it rise above $20,000 for the first time in its history on 16 December.

Bitcoin is currently trading just below $23,000, up from below $5,000 earlier this year.

The fortunes of the notoriously volatile asset are typically mirrored by other major cryptocurrencies, including dogecoin.

Created in 2013 by technologist Jackson Palmer as a light-hearted take on the emerging technology, the meme-inspired cryptocurrency soon gathered a cult-like following that gathered in online communities and Reddit forums.

At its peak in early 2018, dogecoin’s market cap briefly reached above $2 billion, ranking it among the top 10 most valuable cryptocurrencies.

It has since slipped to the 43rd most valuable cryptocurrency, but remains popular among its followers.

Mr Musk has previously sought the help of dogecoin’s founder after his Twitter account was plagued by spam bots promoting fake cryptocurrency giveaways.

The meme-loving founder of Tesla exchanged strategies with Mr Palmer in 2018, tweeting: "If you can help get rid of the annoying scam spammers, that would be much appreciated."

Mr Palmer was able to help with the specific issue but the problem of cryptocurrency scammers continues to afflict Mr Musk’s Twitter account. 

Despite this, he continues to post memes about bitcoin, tweeting on Sunday a provocative image of a woman tagged with the label ‘bitcoin’, next to a monk praying beside the text: “Me trying to live a normal productive life.”

He also appeared to speculate about converting the Tesla balance sheet from US dollars to bitcoin. 

“Are such large transactions even possible,” he tweeted on Sunday.