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- Dogecoin briefly gained on Monday after Elon Musk announced a doge-funded moon mission.
- The meme-inspired cryptocurrency rose to 55 cents, from a one-week low around 47 cents on Sunday.
- The billionaire had previously hinted at SpaceX’s plans in an April Fool’s tweet.
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Dogecoin recovered some losses on Monday, after Elon Musk announced his SpaceX company will launch the satellite “DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon” next year.
Musk’s commercial-rocket firm will take off on a moon mission in 2022 carrying a mini-satellite used for space research from Geometric Energy Corporation, paid for entirely in dogecoin.
“Having officially transacted with DOGE for a deal of this magnitude, Geometric Energy Corporation and SpaceX have solidified DOGE as a unit of account for lunar business in the space sector,” Samuel Reid, Geometric Energy’s CEO, said in a statement.
@elonmusk/Twitter
The Tesla boss had previously hinted at these plans in a tweet on April Fool’s day, when he said SpaceX plans to put “a literal dogecoin on the literal moon.” That prompted a near-30% spike in its price.
Dogecoin had slumped 30% over the weekend after Musk’s Saturday Night Live appearance, at which he jokingly called it a “hustle.” He also said it’s “as real” as a dollar bill and predicted it will “take over the world.” The billionaire joked that he would gift his mother the meme currency for Mother’s Day, which was a day after the show.
Cryptocurrencies had another volatile weekend thanks to Elon Musk, according to Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at OANDA. “Dogecoin, or as I call it, Pumpanddumpandpumpcoin, enjoyed a 40% range,” he said.
“Having risen on Friday after a Musk tweet with a dog, it fell when he called dogecoin a hustle in a skit on Saturday Night Live, which he hustled. Musk announced he was sending a satellite to the moon, much like Pumpanddumpandpumpcoin’s price action, next year in another tweet today. Dogecoin will likely follow suit,” he added.
The meme coin’s price rebounded by 3% to 55 cents, after trading around 47 cents on Sunday, according to Coinmarketcap data. But it again slipped to around 53 cents in early European trading. It is currently the fourth-most valuable among all cryptocurrencies, with a market cap of $70 billion.
Musk said last week cryptocurrencies are promising, but investors should approach them with caution.
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