If you followed crypto throughout the previous bull market in 2020 and 2021, you almost certainly came across Dogecoin (DOGE). The token gained traction on social media and quickly became one of the most discussed cryptocurrencies. DOGE survived the bear market of the past few years and has seen a strong comeback in 2024.
DOGE was created over a decade ago but only picked up steam in 2020. It shot up to all-time highs (ATHs) of nearly $0.75, at which point it had a market cap of about $100 billion. The price has fallen significantly since then but is up over 100% YTD.
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The price run in 2024 has been the result of many factors, most notably an overall increase in meme coin investment and attention, as well as words from Elon Musk.
Meme coins have taken off in 2024, with tons of new projects hitting the market and attracting investors. One example is dogwifhat (WIF), which recently broke the $4 billion market cap level within four months of launch. The meme coin craze has also pointed some investors back to DOGE, the original meme coin.
Additionally, Elon Musk hinted at the possibility of allowing customers to buy a Tesla car with DOGE. Musk was visiting the Berlin Tesla gigafactory where he was asked when it would be possible to buy a Tesla with DOGE. "At some point. I think we should enable that. Dogecoin to the moon," Musk said.
Musk then elaborated on why he has been a fan of DOGE for the past several years: “The reason I ended up sort of endorsing Dogecoin is that when I was walking around the factory at Tesla, some people asked me to support Doge,” he said. “Then, at SpaceX, some regular guys said, ‘Can you support Doge?' and I was like, ‘Doge is the people's crypto, so I will support it.'”
Additionally, Musk's social media company, X, is securing money transmitter licenses in many states to allow users to pay each other on the platform with fiat and DOGE.
With all of this in mind, DOGE has seen a market cap as high as $32 billion in 2024. Here are some of the companies that DOGE is larger than:
- Delta Airlines (DAL)
- HP (HPQ)
- Dollar Tree (DLTR)
- MicroStrategy (MSTR)
- eBay (EBAY)
- Fifth Third Bank (FITB)
- Pinterest (PINS)
- Roblox (RBLX)
- DraftKings (DKNG)
- Kellogg's (K)
The list has some of the largest companies in the world, including banks. These companies have thousands of employees dedicated to delivering value; conversely, DOGE has had only 40 contributors since launch and is seen as mainly a meme.
The story of DOGE serves as a testament to the degeneracy of the crypto community that can take a project that started as a joke and provides little value and make it into something larger than most companies in the world.
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