Originally created as a joke, Dogecoin has risen 130-fold this year, a market capitalization of about $80 billion worth more than the GDP of 120 different countries. Many of the recent price pumps have been attributed to Elon Musk following a series of cheerleading tweets by the self proclaimed Doge Father — Tesla and SpaceX CEO.
Musk explained cryptocurrency generally to the NBC Show’s audience, before hosts Michael Che and Colin Jost repeatedly asked him “what is dogecoin.”
Elon finally mentioned the digital asset on live television tonight in his opening monologue of the sketch comedy show after the tease in late April. Elon joked that her Mother’s Day gift would be Dogecoin after Musk’s mother, Maye Musk joined him onstage and asked what her Mother’s Day present would be.
The meme cryptocurrency finally got its long-anticipated shoutout on Saturday Night Live Show by Elon — DOGE price had jumped 73%, ostensibly on speculation that the joke token might get a boost from Musk’s appearance on SNL but despite DOGE investors and hodlers hopes, the market responded negatively, resulting in aggressive sell pressure and a violent dump.
DOGE peaked at $.74 roughly a day before the episode, traded hands at $0.66 just before the show went live and has now fallen 32% after the show began recovering from a 38% sharp dip. Musk himself seemed to try and get ahead of the hype, warning his followers in a Tweet to “invest with caution,” this week, saying crypto may be a fun speculation tool.
“People should not invest their life savings in cryptocurrency, to be clear,” Musk said. “I think that’s unwise.”
Dogecoin was invented as a joke, Musk reminded his fans.!