Why Does Elon Musk Like Dogecoin So Much?

Tesla CEO Elon Musk likes the “meme” cryptocurrency Dogecoin because he likes jokes, according to Spencer Bogart, the general partner at Blockchain Capital, in an interview with Bloomberg on May 4. 

“He’s a fun guy, and he likes memes, and doge is the perfect target for it,” Bogart told Bloomberg. 

Bogart compared the recent interest in Dogecoin to that of GameStop. 

“In the current market environment, I’m not surprised that it’s caught the eye of more than one market participant,” he told Bloomberg.

Dogecoin gets its name from the “Doge” meme, which depicts a Shiba Inu dog. Started in 2013 as a joke, it's now the sixth-largest digital coin in the crypto market with a total market value of about $42 million, according to CoinGecko. 

Although the beginning of April was challenging for the crypto, which dropped from 40 cents to below 20 cents, it soared back to 32 cents last week—an 20 percent increase. 

Reports say that the recent interest in Dogecoin is fueled by tweets from Musk and billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban. 

Although the tech mogul loves to tweet about Dogecoin, it isn't clear how much Musk has invested in the digital coin, if anything. 

He has called Dogecoin his “fav” cryptocurrency and “the people’s crypto.” 

In a Feb. 5 tweet, Musk polled his followers on what they would pick as “the future currency of Earth.” The choices were “Dogecoin to the Moooonn” or “All other crypto combined.” Dogecoin was the choice of 71.3 percent of those who voted. 

After the poll, Musk tweeted, “The people have spoken….”

On Feb. 10, Musk tweeted, “Bought some Dogecoin for lil X, so he can be a toddler hodler.” The tweet referenced his son, X AE A-XII Musk.

Some analysts say that the meme crypto also got a boost from Musk’s upcoming gig as a Saturday Night Live host on May 8. 

In an April 28 tweet, Musk simply wrote, “The Dogefather. SNL May 8.”

If Dogecoin is a joke, then Musk isn’t the only one laughing. Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, has also shown some love for dogecoin on Twitter.  

In response to one follower’s question on why he likes Dogecoin over other cryptocurrencies, Cuban responded, “Because Doge is the one coin that people actually use for transactions. We take many others via @BitPay. But people spend their Doge and that means more businesses will start taking it. The greatest inhibitor to it's growth is that you can't spend the Doge you buy on Robinhood.”

Calling himself Snoop “Doge,” the rapper Snoop Dogg tweeted a Guardian of the Galaxy-like music video on April 20 (420) endorsing the meme-crypto. He called out Musk in the tweet. 

Former KISS bassist Gene Simmons is also on the Dogecoin bandwagon, although he doesn’t recommend it. 

“Not recommending any of these to anyone. But yes, I also bought Dogecoin, XRP and others. Make of it what you will, Simmons tweeted on Jan. 31.