Elon Musk says he has bought Dogecoin for his son after relentlessly tweeting about the cryptocurrency for days and boosting its value to an all-time high.
The value of Dogecoin, which was created based on a popular dog meme, has surged 137 percent in the last week alone, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Musk first started tweeting about Dogecoin on February 4 and the cryptocurrency’s price has been surging ever since, sparking concern over the billionaire’s ability to move markets.
The Tesla CEO revealed on Wednesday that he had purchased an undisclosed amount of Dogecoin for his son X Æ A-Xii, who he shares with musician Grimes.
‘Bought some Dogecoin for lil X, so he can be a toddler hodler,’ he tweeted alongside a video of his son sitting on the floor.
Hodl is a phrase used in the context of cryptocurrency to refer to buy-and-hold strategies.
It is not clear how much cryptocurrency Musk purchased, or when he bought it.
Elon Musk says he has bought Dogecoin for his son X Æ A-Xii, who he shares with musician Grimes, after relentlessly tweeting about the cryptocurrency for days and boosting its value to an all-time high
It comes in a week where bitcoin also surged 10 percent to a record $44,000 in the hours after Musk’s Tesla announced it was investing $1.5 billion in the cryptocurrency.
Dogecoin’s price was at $0.07411 – up 12 percent in 24 hours – as of Wednesday.
The value had hit a record-high of $0.084845 on Monday following Musk’s relentless tweets over the weekend about the cryptocurrency.
Dogecoin’s market value is currently at $9.5 billion and is currently the 8th ranked coin on CoinMarketCap.
Musk has been tweeting relentlessly about Dogecoin since February 4, which was subsequently followed by endorsements from rapper Snoop Dogg and Kiss rocker Gene Simmons.
His tweets last week included a picture of a rocket soaring past the moon with the caption ‘Doge’ and an image from the Lion King that showed himself holding up the dog from the doge meme.
‘Dogecoin is the people’s crypto,’ another tweet read. ‘No need to be a gigachad to own.’
‘No highs, no lows, only Doge.’
The value of Dogecoin, which was created based on a popular dog meme, has surged 137 percent in the last week alone, according to CoinMarketCap data
‘Bought some Dogecoin for lil X, so he can be a toddler hodler,’ Musk tweeted alongside a video of his son sitting on the floor
Late on Sunday, in a fresh endorsement for the cryptocurrency, Musk tweeted: ‘Who let the Doge Out’ – mimicking lines from the Baha Men’s song.
He also tweeted an instructional video, saying: ‘Ð is for Ðogecoin!’ and called it ‘the future currency of Earth’ after putting up a poll for his followers.
Following the attention from Snoop and Simmons, Musk tweeted an image of the trio in which they had been superimposed on a scene from the Lion King.
Dogecoin has the same technical underpinning as better-known cyrptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, but is little used and had long traded for less than one cent.
It was created in 2013 and based on a then-popular internet meme of a Shiba Inu dog.
Musk has previously drawn sanctions for the Securities and Exchange Commission for his tweets about Tesla, where he is CEO and a major shareholder.
He settled with the SEC over the complaints, which were spurred by a tweet musing about taking the company private and another sharing production projections.
Publicly traded companies are regulated in how they provide forward-looking statements, in order to ensure investors have equal access to news that can move share prices significantly.
Musk has been tweeting relentlessly about Dogecoin since February 4
Cryptocurrencies are not regulated in the same way and Musk’s tweets about dogecoin are unlikely to be a violation of any law or regulation, regardless of whether he owns the cryptocurrency.
Still, his ability to move markets at ease with his tweets has drawn both admiration and concern from observers.
Venture capitalist Nic Carter told CNBC on Wednesday that Musk’s tweets were worrying.
Carter warned that people will lose money because Dogecoin is a ‘vehicle for speculation’.
‘Unfortunately a lot of retail punters are going to lose money on dogecoin in the long term because there’s really not much there in terms of interesting technology,’ Carter said.
‘The only thing it can really do is be zombified and stick around and be an empty shell for people’s expectations and for their entertainment.’
DailyMail.com has contacted the SEC for comment over any potential concerns regarding his market influence.
It comes after Musk on Monday launched a pair of potential game-changing shifts for bitcoin after Tesla announced it had invested $1.5 billion and said it will start accepting the cryptocurrency as payment for its cars in the near future.
Musk, who is a well-known supporter of bitcoin, had days earlier briefly changed the bio of his Twitter account, which has 46 million followers, to say ‘#bitcoin’.
He said a week ago that bitcoin was ‘on the verge’ of being more widely accepted among investors and in December asked if it was possible to do large transactions in the currency.