Elon Musk tweets provocative dogecoin meme as crypto price slides

(AFP/Getty)

Elon Musk has tweeted a provactive meme referencing dogecoin, as the cryptocurrency’s price continues to slide.

His post made use of an old image, once often used as a meme on social media, that showed a man ignoring a host of women to instead focus on his computer. In Mr Musk’s post, that computer showed the word “dogecoin”, as well as “polytopia”.

While Mr Musk’s posts helped the fortunes of the cryptocurrency, they weren’t enough to undo its recent weak performance. It gained less than 2 per cent in the wake of his tweet, but was still down almost 4 per cent over the day.

In the past, Mr Musk’s tweets and other interventions have proven key to the performance of the cryptocurrency. Just this week, the price gained 10 per cent after he posted a godfather meme and the phrase “release the Doge”.

Shortly after he posted the lyrics to the song “baby shark”, but with the words changed to reference the cryptocurrency.

But that limited boost was much less pronounced than his involvement had proven in the past. Previous tweets have quadrupled the price, as Mr Musk’s huge following brought new attention to the cryptocurrency.

Since the height of Mr Musk and dogecoin’s involvement, the cryptocurrency has lost much of its value. But it remains one of the five biggest digital currencies, excepting so-called stablecoins.

Such interventions can be key to the popularity of dogecoin and other smaller cryptocurrencies.

“The main drivers behind dogecoin’s popularity is its online communities, coupled with support from high-profile business magnates like Elon Musk,” Michael Kamerman, CEO of fintech company Skilling, told The Independent earlier this year.

“It’s moved by headlines, tweets, celebrity or corporate endorsements, and while that’s likely belittled by ‘traditional’ investors, it’s what brings the masses to cryptocurrencies.”

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