Dogecoin supporters have long said the token would shoot to the moon, and now, with the help of an aerospace company, it actually will.
Elon Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency shot up as much as 13% early Friday following news that Astrobotic accepted an application from the Dogecoin community to send a physical Dogecoin to the moon on the company’s Peregrine Lunar Lander, which is set to launch with the help of a Vulcan Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in December.
The lander acts as a delivery vehicle to the moon and carries with it various "payloads"—cargo for governments, companies, and universities from around the globe—according to Astrobotic’s website. Apart from the physical Dogecoin, the lunar lander also will be carrying equipment for NASA such as a Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer, which is used to measure radiation levels on the moon.
🚀Dogecoin On The Moon Update🌕
— Dogecoin (@dogecoin) November 16, 2023
Exciting news for the Dogecoin community!🌑
Astrobotic plans to send a physical Dogecoin to the moon in the DHL Moonbox via ULA's Vulcan Centaur Rocket on 12/23/2023. Funded by our community in 2015, this mission embodies collective effort! pic.twitter.com/QESz4ikHln
Additionally, the lander will be taking a physical version of a Bitcoin to the moon sent by crypto exchange BitMEX, as well as a plate that includes a copy of the Bitcoin “Genesis Block,” the first block mined on the blockchain, sent by Bitcoin Magazine.
Dogecoin prices are fueled largely by speculation, and an unlimited number of the tokens can be created, so any rally is often quick to dissipate. Despite the surge, by Friday afternoon the coin had retreated, but was still up about 3% on the day.
Other leading cryptocurrencies were little changed on the day after a rally earlier this week, with Bitcoin up 1% over the past 24 hours at $36,300, and Ethereum down 1.5% to $1,900 as of publication.