Dogecoin symbol image (left) and Elon Musk (right)[Twitter post capture · Resale and DB prohibited] / Photo by Yonhap News
[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Eun-young] Tesla CEO Elon Musk has once again mentioned the cryptocurrency 'Dogecoin.' Attention is focused on whether the 'Musk's voice,' which influences countless retail investors, will impact Dogecoin's price this time as well.
On the 13th (local time), Musk posted a short message on his social media (SNS) saying "Doge day afternoon." Shortly after, he wrote, "The origin of Doge day afternoon: Ancient Romans believed Sirius was the cause of hot and sultry weather, and to appease Sirius's wrath, they sacrificed Dogecoin around the time Doge day began."
The 'Sirius' Musk mentioned is the brightest star in the night sky and the alpha star of the constellation Canis Major. The reference to 'Sirius' seems to be a pun on 'dog,' which is similar in spelling to 'Doge.' Earlier, on the 16th of last month, Musk also posted an image parodying the fashion magazine Vogue, featuring a dog as the model called 'Dogue' on his SNS.
On the 14th, Musk mentioned Dogecoin once again on his social media. Photo by Elon Musk Twitter capture
Dogecoin was created in 2013 by software developers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer as a joke cryptocurrency. At that time, they made Dogecoin with the Japanese Shiba Inu, popular as an internet meme (trending photo or video), as its mascot.
Dogecoin was originally created as a joke to satirize the Bitcoin craze. In its early days, it was even called a joke coin. However, last year, Musk, an ardent supporter of cryptocurrencies, began to pay attention to Dogecoin.
In December last year, Musk first mentioned the short word "Doge" on social media. Afterwards, he showed interest in Dogecoin by posting tweets such as "Dogecoin is the people's cryptocurrency."
Following this, some users of the online community Reddit, which was the gathering place for American retail investors during the 'GameStop incident,' began to focus on Dogecoin, and Dogecoin quickly rose to become a mainstream cryptocurrency.
On the 10th of last month, Musk joined in by tweeting, "I bought Dogecoin for my son." Following Musk's words, Dogecoin's price surged 16% to $0.087 in an instant. Due to Musk's continuous mentions, Dogecoin's market capitalization, which was around $1 billion at the end of January, once exceeded $10 billion.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, a private American space company, and Tesla, an electric vehicle manufacturer [Photo by Yonhap News]
Meanwhile, recently among investors, the phrase "Musk over Wall Street" has been circulating. This is because Musk's remarks or mentions on social media about Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and GameStop are causing cryptocurrency prices to surge or plummet rapidly.
According to the US economic media Business Insider, a survey conducted by the US polling firm Piplsay from the 6th to the 8th of last month targeting 30,400 people found that 37% of respondents said, "I have invested after seeing Musk's tweets."
With the world's retail investors' attention focused on Musk's 'loose tongue' that controls the capital market, it is being closely watched whether Dogecoin's price will surge again with this tweet.
As of 5:45 PM on the 14th, Dogecoin is trading at 71.40 KRW on the domestic cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, down 2.46% compared to the previous day.
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