Dogecoin surges 13 per cent as Tesla accepts payments
Dogecoin surged 13 per cent after Elon Musk announced Tesla is accepting the meme-crypto in exchange for merchandise.
Musk, the world’s richest man, took to Twitter to share the news that merchandise from his electric car company is “buyable” using Dogecoin as of today.
Dogecoin, the world’s 11th biggest crypto project by market cap, saw its price jump from daily lows of $0.16 to highs of $0.20 following the announcement.
The Tesla store now displays pricing information in both US dollars and dogecoin. The Cyberquad, a steel four-wheel bike for kids, can be snapped up for 12,020 DOGE or $2,296. A Giga Texas Belt Buckle is on sale for 835 DOGE and a stainless steel whistle, dubbed the Cyberwhistle, goes for 300 DOGE.
Dogecoin’s founder, who goes by the handle Shibetoshi Nakamoto, a play on the name of the pseudonymous founder of Bitcoin, celebrated the news on Twitter by sharing a picture of the Tesla Cyberwhistle.
Dogecoin was co-founded in 2013 by Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus. The coin was initially started as a joke, but gained in popularity over 2021 thanks to Elon Musk who has frequently hailed the coin.
Musk’s tweets on the cryptocurrency, including the one where he called it the “people’s crypto”, buoyed the meme coin and caused it to soar roughly 4,000 per cent in 2021.
Dogecoin reached an all time high of $0.73 in May and has since lost almost three quarters of its value.
Read more: Elon Musk to allow Doge payments for Tesla merchandise