Dogecoin continued its recent surge Wednesday, hitting new all-time highs and making even the most skeptical admit that the vaulted $1 price goal is looking more and more achievable.
The cryptocurrency that no one was meant to take seriously spiked to just under 70¢ before losing a little ground. As of 10:30 a.m. ET, the digital currency was up 19% in the past 24 hours—and almost 14,000% year to date.
Dogecoin’s market cap now stands at $84.88 billion, putting it ahead of Gilead Sciences and four-fifths of the companies on the S&P 500. Put another way: When measured by market cap, Dogecoin is more than six times more valuable than American Airlines.
A $1,000 investment in Dogecoin at the start of 2021 would now be worth over $135,000. And that same investment when the crypto launched in 2019 would be worth $364,000.
Ten thousand new Dogecoins are programmed to be issued every minute for the rest of eternity, meaning the value was never meant to hold. But pushes from everyone from Elon Musk to Mark Cuban to Guy Fieri have kept it in the spotlight, and traders have decided to defy logic.
Ultimately, though, it’s individual investors who are driving the price up. Determined to “hodl” the crypto and take it “to the moon,” it’s as much an affordable amusement that upsets the pro trading community as it is a serious financial vehicle. (They took it seriously enough, however, to get outraged when Robinhood’s crypto trading went down Tuesday.) But increasingly, companies are jumping on board. Earlier this week, the Oakland A’s began selling seats for Dogecoin. And Cuban last week said that the Dallas Mavericks would complete 60,000 Dogecoin transactions in April, adding that it’s a crypto that people actually use versus hold.
Those same enthusiasts declared April 20 “Doge Day” and hoped to push the crypto’s value to $1 on that day. That didn’t happen, but given its surge of late—and Musk’s upcoming Saturday Night Live hosting gig—the $1 mark seems quite possible.
More must-read finance coverage from Fortune:
- Everything to know about Biden’s $3,000 child tax credit—including when the money should arrive
- Should you “sell in May”? Not this year, say experts
- 3 reasons Verizon needed to dump what’s left of AOL and Yahoo
- Are CFOs flocking to Bitcoin? No way, says this high-level adviser
- Commentary: 5 things Western investors misunderstand about China
Our mission to make business better is fueled by readers like you. To enjoy unlimited access to our journalism, subscribe today.
