Crypto markets gain nearly $100 billion after Elon Musk’s Twitter deal boosts Dogecoin
Top line
Amid a broader market rally, cryptocurrencies gained tens of billions in market cap this week, driven in part by a 40% gain for dogecoin due to Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and self-proclaimed “Dogefather,” completing his takeover of Twitter.
Dogelon Mars cryptocurrency logo shown on a phone screen and representation of Dogecoin is seen … [+]
Keywords
The crypto market was worth $1.05 trillion on Friday, according to CoinGecko’s tracker of more than 13,000 cryptocurrencies.
That’s nearly a $100 billion increase since last Friday, and surpassed the $1 trillion mark on Wednesday for the first time in six weeks.
Bitcoin remains by far the largest cryptocurrency with a market value of $396 billion, according to Forbes‘ digital asset tracker, and its 7% jump to $20,639 drove most of the week’s gains.
But perhaps the most newsworthy was the ninth largest coin by market capitalization, Dogecoin.
Dogecoin rallied more than 40% to $0.085 over the past week, with nearly all of its gains since Wednesday as Musk’s takeover of Twitter became more secure.
Doge bulls believe Musk could integrate the coin into the social network, pointing to Musk’s texts with his brother in which the billionaire suggests verifying users by charging fees paid in dogecoin to tweet.
Big number
11.5 billion dollars. That’s dogecoin’s market cap as of Friday, a bigger market cap than American Airlines.
Key background
Musk helped inspire dogecoin’s meteoric rise in 2021 amid the general meme-trading craze, with the coin peaking at $0.69 last spring before crashing back to earth after Musk called it a “hustle” while hosting Saturday Night Live. After exploding in value in 2020 and 2021, the crypto market crashed to earth this year, losing around $2 trillion in market capitalization and bitcoin falling 57% year-to-date. Crypto’s losses in 2022 are far more than the also falling stock market, with the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq down 19% and 30% so far this year.
What you should look for
Federal Reserve interest rate decision next week. If the Fed indicates that it will continue its aggressive policy, risk assets such as crypto could “react badly,” says Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst at brokerage GlobalBlock. Hopes that policy may not become more aggressive have since helped markets recover from lows this year.
Versus
Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency may be surging thanks to the Twitter deal, but the stock in which most of his net worth is tied up has gone in the opposite direction. Tesla shares are down 8% since Oct. 4, when Musk’s intentions to move forward with the Twitter deal were announced, as Tesla investors worry about the company’s CEO Musk needing to sell more Tesla shares to fuel his purchase and divert attention away from the electrical. vehicle company.
Further reading
Twitter Tale Gives Dogecoin 10% Gain (Forbes)
