Dogecoins and Shiba Inu Soars. Elon Musk Continues to Develop ‘Memecoins’

There have been spikes in some dog-themed cryptocurrency tokens, such as Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, and at least one other. This spike came after Elon Musk posted photos of his dog on Twitter. Memecoin markets appear to be in good hands with Musk's ability to move them.

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This group of cryptos has grown beyond being a prank this year, despite being known as Memecoins because they were initially developed primarily as internet jokes over serious blockchain projects. In addition to Dogecoin, dozens of spinoffs have been developed, including Shiba Inu, which ranks 13th-largest in terms of digital assets. 'Doge' is a Shiba Inu dog used in the meme that inspired Dogecoin.

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And Musk agrees. The CEO of Tesla TSLA +7.51% (ticker: TSLA) and owner of Twitter has been promoting Dogecoin for years, referring to himself as the "Dogefather" and touting it in tweets and on television. It has aided Dogecoin and its competitors in occasionally defying the tendency of other cryptocurrencies to trade closely in lockstep with the price of Bitcoin.

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Musk even has a Shiba Inu puppy named Floki, who served as the model for a cryptocurrency with the same name and a $290 million market worth. Seriously. And Floki, the dog, not the coin, was responsible for the latest Memecoin boom.

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Three pictures of what looked to be his dog sitting in an office chair at a desk covered in Twitter knickknacks were posted by the millionaire businessman. Musk wrote on Twitter, "The new CEO of Twitter is wonderful." He is ideal for the position.

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Recent rumors have centered on how long Musk will hold the position of CEO at Twitter, which he purchased last year in a difficult takeover that resulted in mass layoffs of the company's workforce. His tweets were probably a reference to that rumor, and they were sent around the same time as comments he made at the World Government Summit in Dubai, where he indicated that he would probably serve as CEO through the end of 2023.

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However, the value of Memecoins increased. Dogecoin outperformed BitcoinBTCUSD +2.24%, which increased 3% over the past 24 hours, rising 6%, with its biggest spike occurring just after Musk's post. Over the same time frame, Floki has rocketed 45% higher while Shiba Inu has risen 5%, with a 500% increase in trading volume for the smaller token.

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Musk's Shiba Inu antics appear to have only affected public dialogue during his time on Twitter, but Memecoin bulls may be witnessing more. The news that Musk had taken control of Twitter and his possible plans to allow cryptocurrency payments on the social media network caused Dogecoin in particular to soar, giving rise to expectations that the same coin would really find some usage.

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There isn't much evidence to suggest that Musk's tweets hinted at that or that cryptocurrency payments are imminent. Memecoins are expected to continue moving forward whenever Musk brings them up, though.