28% Increase in a Week
Derivative Meme Coins Also on the Rise
[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Although the cryptocurrency market is currently in a slump, meme coins, including Dogecoin, are showing an upward trend.
According to the global cryptocurrency market tracking site CoinMarketCap, as of 9:45 a.m. on the 27th, the price of Dogecoin was $0.07409 (approximately 95.76 KRW), up 8.79% from the previous day. Compared to a week ago on the 20th of this month, this represents an increase of about 28%.
A speculative factor plays a significant role in Dogecoin's rise. On the 19th (local time), Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted, "I will continue to support Dogecoin," which triggered the upward trend. The market capitalization, which was $7.03316 billion (approximately 9.0728 trillion KRW) on the 18th, increased to $9.0883 billion as of the 25th of this month. Dogecoin currently ranks 10th in market capitalization among cryptocurrencies worldwide.
Dogecoin also surged sharply after the news of Musk's Twitter acquisition on April 25th, with its market capitalization increasing by $3.451 billion (approximately 4.4532 trillion KRW) in just one day. As such surges triggered by Musk's mentions have occurred repeatedly, it appears that buying continues for speculative purposes. Since the Luna Classic incident, which led to the cryptocurrency downturn, Dogecoin's market capitalization has decreased by 44.85% compared to before, which is a smaller decline than that of Ethereum, the leading altcoin. During the same period, Ethereum's market capitalization fell by 50.36%.
Additionally, Dogecoin-inspired meme coins have recently shown an upward trend. On this day, Baby Dogecoin and Dogelon Mars rose about 33% and 50%, respectively, compared to a week ago. Baby Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency that claims to be the "son" of Dogecoin, while Dogelon Mars was created by combining Dogecoin, Elon Musk, and Mars. Shiba Inu, a rival and derivative of Dogecoin, also rose more than 40% compared to a week ago.
Meanwhile, as Dogecoin gains popularity, there are claims that it is being misused for criminal purposes beyond speculative intent. Blockchain analysis firm Elliptic Connect reported on the 22nd that "millions of dollars worth of Dogecoin transactions related to illegal activities have been identified," adding, "These activities mostly consist of scams but also include serious crimes such as terrorism financing and the sale of child sexual exploitation materials." They also noted that they have identified several darknet markets, including those for drugs and unauthorized data theft sales.
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