Dogecoin price: Elon Musk pumps crypto with ‘CEO’ tweet

Enigmatic Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s remarks have a big impact on crypto markets — and the market closely watches his statements.

The price of dogecoin appears to be trending upwards after a tweet by Elon Musk.

The Tesla CEO has a powerful impact on cryptocurrency prices, with his musings closely watched by investors.

Last week the price of bitcoin tanked after he announced that Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin as payment for vehicles and other products.

He cited environmental concerns about mining and trading for the move.

But Mr Musk is a fan of the “joke” bitcoin rival dogecoin.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk was hailed as the “CEO” of dogecoin one investor. Picture: Odd Andersen/AFP

A tweet this morning referred to Mr Musk as the “CEO” of dogecoin.

“[Elon Musk] appears to be treating #Dogecoin like one of his own companies. He’s actively marketing $DOGE, engaging with the community, and using his engineering and leadership prowess to contribute to #DOGE development. With Elon as ‘Doge CEO’, we are in good hands!” it reads.

Mr Musk responded: “Please note dogecoin has no formal organisation and no one reports to me, so my ability to take action is limited.”

The price of dogecoin has plunged this month, along with other cryptos.

It was trading for (AUD) $0.934673 on May 8 and fell as low as $0.322266 on May 24.

However, it has recovered some ground and this morning saw a spike to $0.443885 as Mr Musk tweeted.

The price of bitcoin has fluctuated wildly in recent days after announcements by Elon Musk and Chinese regulators. Picture: Karen Bleier/AFP

The Tesla boss also commented on his preference for dogecoin in reply to a question from YouTuber and Tesla investor Dave Lee.

“Curious what are your thoughts on ethereum 2.0, cardano, solana, polkadot, IOTA and others that are trying to scale with low fees?” Mr Lee asked.

“[Dogecoin] has dogs and memes, whereas the others do not,” Mr Musk replied.

Mr Musk earlier issued a call to developers to submit ideas for dogecoin upgrades and improvements via Reddit and GitHub.

He also said that ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin “fears the [doge].”

Yesterday the price of bitcoin recovered some of its losses after a tweet from Mr Musk.

“Spoke with North American Bitcoin miners. They committed to publish current and planned renewable usage and to ask miners WW to do so. Potentially promising,” he said.

According to Coindesk, the price of bitcoin shot up by 17.12 per cent and ethereum rose by 29.51 per cent following his remarks.

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He fears the … pic.twitter.com/78WzM5ICjA

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2021

Crypto prices in Australia

bitcoin $48,574.79

ethereum $3291.37

XRP $1.20

dogecoin $0.443885

stellar $0.531731

China’s harsh move on cryptocurrencies

The price of cryptos has also been impacted by statements from Chinese regulators in recent days.

China’s powerful State Council issued a statement late on May 21, saying more regulation was needed to protect China’s financial system from crypto trading and mining.

The State Council said it was necessary to “crack down on bitcoin mining and trading behaviour, and resolutely prevent the transmission of individual risks to the social field”.

“We should be more alert and look for potential risks.”

The statement follows a warning against crypto trading by three state-backed industry associations — the National Internet Finance Association of China, the China Banking Association and the Payment and Clearing Association of China.

The industry associations said “cryptocurrency prices have skyrocketed and plummeted, and cryptocurrency trading speculation activities have rebounded”.

The price fluctuations “seriously violate people’s asset safety and disrupt normal economic and financial order”, the statement posted to social media by the People’s Bank of China said.

A slate of cryptos including bitcoin, ethereum, XRP, dogecoin and stellar plunged on the announcements.