Yahoo Finance Dogecoin surges 55% as fans try to push it to $1
Dogecoin (DOGE-USD) has nearly doubled in value since April, rising over 50% after another surge driven by internet users who are trying to push the coin to $1, as similar plans for "Doge Day" fell flat last month.
The meme-inspired crypto rose as much as 55% to $0.68 on Wednesday morning in London, it is currently trading 35% higher to $0.65.
Dogecoin soared 450% over a week to a record high of $0.32 in April 2021.
Wednesday's surge pushed dogecoin's market cap to over $70bn (£50bn) to become the fourth-most valued coin, according to CoinMarketCap. This is bigger than the market cap of COVID vaccine producer Moderna (MRNA).
For context it took tech giant Amazon (AMZN) over a decade to deliver a 10,000% return to investors. It has taken dogecoin just five months.
Watch: Dogecoin hit all-time highs amid crypto frenzy
It comes after support from more those in the cryptocurrency trading industry as well as Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, who sent the price of his favoured coin soaring after tweeting about it several times.
On Wednesday, popular exchange Gemini announced support for dogecoin, after eToro added it to its online trading app on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, bitcoin (BTC-USD) has been struggling to drive back to record highs it experienced last month. the flagship crypto fell 2.9% to $54,564.
Ethereum (ETH-USD), the second most popular cryptocurrency, was down just over 2% to $3,284 on Wednesday.
Dogecoin and bitcoin were boosted by the GameStop saga at the start of January 2021, with the latter soaring over 800% as Reddit users, who also pumped stocks such as GameStop (GME) and AMC (AMC), drew their attention to the coin.
Read more: The history of Dogecoin, the joke coin that's worth more than Barclays and Lloyds
Last year, a number of financial institutions and well known investors threw their weight behind cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies which sent its price skyrocketing.
This helped cryptocurrencies gain more popularity in recent months, especially bitcoin, which has more than doubled in value in the last six months.
Earlier in 2021, the market value of all bitcoin in circulation hit $1trn for the first time, after a more than 800% surge. In December, it soared past Visa (V) to make it the world’s largest financial service.
But this has also put it under the watchful eyes of governments and regulators who want to hone in on the sector amid rising demand.
Watch: What are the risks of investing in cryptocurrency?
