Cryptocurrency Dogecoin rose more than 50% on Thursday after billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk tweeted his support for it, two days after saying he would take a “break from Twitter for a while”.
Dogecoin jumped to $ 0.05798 according to data on blockchain and cryptocurrency website Coindesk. Musk first tweeted “Doge” and immediately followed it up with “Dogecoin is the people’s crypto.”
The Tesla chief’s tweets about certain companies and cryptocurrencies have skyrocketed their prices in recent weeks. Shares in GameStop, Etsy and CD Projekt are up after comments on his Twitter account about them.
In the crypto world, Musk posting a “#bitcoin” tag on his Twitter bio sent the most popular currency last Friday. He has since removed the tag.
Meanwhile, the rival cryptocurrency ethereum is also at record speed as investors buy it ahead of the launch of ethereum futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange next week.
Ethereum rallied to a record high of $ 1,698.56 before giving up some of those gains to trade 2.7% lower during London’s early trading. Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, also fell 1.2% to $ 37,184.
Cryptocurrencies are gaining popularity with more mainstream investors. The euphoria first pushed the total market value of all cryptocurrencies above $ 1 trillion earlier in January.