Cryptocurrency Dogecoin fell as much as 9% on Monday as some Twitter users began to see their home buttons on the social media platform revert to its iconic blue-bird logo after a few days of being replaced by the dog meme associated with the cryptocurrency. It is unclear what prompted the change, but it is likely to impact the cryptocurrency.
Dogecoin has gained popularity due to its resemblance to the dog meme from 2013, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been an outspoken supporter of the cryptocurrency. He endorsed it in a series of tweets last year.
Since then, the currency has been gaining popularity among crypto investors. It has also been used to pay for merchandise at Tesla, a company that Musk heads.
However, the influx of traffic triggered a surge in value for Dogecoin after the change happened, which sent it up as high as $0.1046 against around $0.077 before the update. This is a significant boost considering it had not risen above 10 cents in over a month.
The move from Twitter bird to Dogecoin comes without announcement or fanfare, and it’s starting to look like an April Fool’s joke that could have staying power.
Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted a message on Monday noting the change. It offered the closest thing to an explanation: a reference to a follower’s joke from March 2022, in which the user suggested that Musk buy Twitter and replace its bird logo with Doge.
On Tuesday, the social media service’s CEO tweeted another message noting the change. In addition, he shared a cartoon of the Shiba-Inu that’s the visual representation of the Doge meme on the upper left corner of the social media service’s home page.
This resemblance to the dog meme associated with cryptocurrency has sparked interest among users, many of whom wonder why Twitter would do such a thing. Other users are speculating that the change could be a way to flood the market with news of a $258 billion racketeering lawsuit against Musk filed by dogecoin investors, who allege that he ran a pyramid scheme to help push the cryptocurrency’s value higher.
Adding the Doge meme to Twitter’s web version on Monday confused me, as the icon appeared both on the loading screen and on the upper left corner of the website’s interface. Some users believed it was a bug, while others thought it might be an April Fool’s joke that appeared two days late.
According to Coinbase, Dogecoin was trading at around 0.08422244 ddoNlr before the update on Monday. The spike in price was immediately apparent, and it has now climbed over 35%. Despite the sudden surge in value, Dogecoin has not risen to the level of Bitcoin, which recently hit an all-time high of $7747. It remains far below the $10 billion mark, but its popularity and use as a payment method at Tesla have been growing.
