The price of Dogecoin (DOGE) began rising after Tesla’s online shop started accepting payments in the meme coin.
Since Elon Musk first mentioned it on Twitter in 2019, DOGE has risen by more than 4,000%.
Over the past 24 hours, DOGE’s price increased by more than 17%, reaching a high of $0.199. Trading volume since December 14 amounted to about $3.8 billion, according to CoinGecko, and the total market capitalization stands at approximately $3.8 billion.
Dogecoin and Tesla
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly supported and promoted Dogecoin across multiple platforms, including interviews on U.S. television. In one late-night skit, he even called Dogecoin “the future of currency.”
Musk often mentions DOGE on his social media channels, and those mentions are frequently associated with significant price moves for the token. He first referenced Dogecoin on Twitter on April 2, 2019, calling the cryptocurrency “pretty cool.”
In March 2021, Elon Musk enabled purchases of Tesla vehicles with Bitcoin, but less than two months later Tesla paused Bitcoin payments, citing environmental concerns. Tesla later resumed accepting Bitcoin payments in October of the same year.
Last month (December 2021), Musk said Tesla would soon accept Dogecoin payments for certain merchandise. He kept his promise: Tesla’s online stores began accepting DOGE for specific items.
What customers can buy
Customers can now select from a range of items and pay using DOGE.
BREAKING: Tesla has launched Dogecoin purchases on their online shop! You can purchase the Cyberwhistle for 300 $DOGE. The Giga Texas Belt Buckle is 835 $DOGE
Link: https://t.co/VZhhL4PbWH pic.twitter.com/iPTwRUWMOS
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) January 14, 2022
Items available for purchase with the meme coin include the Giga Texas belt buckle priced at 835 DOGE (about $166), the Cyberwhistle for roughly 300 DOGE (about $59), and the electric Cyberquad listed at 12,020 DOGE (approximately $2,391).
Elon Musk personally holds Ether (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC), and Dogecoin (DOGE). According to Bitcoin treasury data, Tesla holds roughly 42,900 BTC on its corporate balance sheet, second only to MicroStrategy.