For anyone who still thinks Dogecoin is a joke, there are some 90 billion reasons that say it’s not.That’s how much the digital token is nearly worth in dollar terms after jumping again in Wednesday trading. Useless or not, the coin has been swept up in the crypto mania that’s gripped markets awash in central bank largesse.

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It’s the latest milestone in a year of speculative excesses for a market Nouriel Roubini once described as “the mother of all bubbles”.

While in the past, trillions of dollars in stimulus by governments and central banks might have triggered a rush into gold for the inflation-wary and risky stocks for the intrepid, a deluge of cash this time round is flooding into the nascent crypto market.

Few illustrate this better than Dogecoin, a so-called memecoin that’s become the destination for a horde of day traders egged on by Internet buzz and a self-propelling buying frenzy.

A potential trigger for the latest leg up: Tesla Inc. co-founder and crypto fan Elon Musk is appearing on Saturday Night Live this weekend, spurring speculation he may talk up Dogecoin again on the comedy show.

“When you think about the full spirit of what this crypto revolution is, there’s something pure in what Dogecoin has done,” Mike Novogratz, founder of Galaxy Digital Holdings, said on CNBC.

“I worry that once the enthusiasm rolls out, there are no developers, there’s no institutions coming in. But it’s got the moniker of the people’s coin right now and it’d be very dangerous to be short.

”The overnight gain took Dogecoin’s one-week advance to 118% and its value to $87 billion in Wednesday trading, according to CoinMarketCap.com data, eclipsing the largest exchange-traded gold fund and even stocks like Fedex Corp. and Snap Inc. A year ago, the asset was worth just $315 million.

It’s all the more remarkable given that other retail favorites from bullish stock options to Cathie Wood’s tech fund have all seen activity dip from the highs earlier this year.

Now, cryptomania might even be hurting gold, according to some analysts. The precious metal has suffered outflows in recent months even as a deluge of stimulus cash drove the value of the world’s crypto market to a $2 trillion record.

“At some point, something is just real,” said Sam Bankman-Fried, the Hong Kong-based chief executive officer of the FTX crypto exchange.

“If Dogecoin is stupid and valueless, it shouldn’t be worth $90 billion. How about gold or Bitcoin or euros? Our collective imagination has given them value, and now we just think about them having value.

”Dogecoin, started in 2013 as a joke based on the Shiba Inu breed of dog, may become so accepted by the mainstream it might evolve into a payment option at retailers, Bankman-Fried said.

At Blockfolio, a firm owned by FTX that helps users manage their crypto portfolios, trading volumes are spiking with Dogecoin’s every gain, a sign it’s become essential to the whole ecosystem.

Dogecoin buying got so fevered Tuesday, Robinhood’s trading app briefly crashed. Other so-called altcoins surged, with Dash spiking 11% over a 24-hour period through the New York morning on Wednesday and Ethereum Classic rising 25%.

While it’s difficult to assign firm reasons to Dogecoin’s ascent, a few factors have fueled the gains. On April 20, a day normally associated with pot, some users got #DogeDay trending to push up the price. Celebrities from Musk to the Dallas Mavericks’ billionaire owner Mark Cuban also jumped on the bandwagon.

The Gemini crypto exchange backed by the Winklevoss twins announced Tuesday it will soon enable trading of the coin.

“As the economy reopens, a lot of these Covid-related movements in various assets will experience some volatility,” said Tony Bedikian, head of global markets at Citizens Bank.

“But I think they are going to become a permanent part of the currency markets as central banks have continued to print money at astronomical levels.”(Adds context throughout and comments from Novogratz, Bedikian)

–With assistance from Yakob Peterseil, Vildana Hajric, Claire Ballentine and Anchalee Worrachate.

Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency that began as a joke when it launched in 2013, is now worth more than General Motors (GM), the American carmaker founded in 1908, based on market cap value.

On Wednesday, Dogecoin's market cap value—the total market value of the circulating supply of a cryptocurrency—hit a reported $87.1 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

The meme cryptocurrency's market cap value was higher than that of GM, which was recorded to be around $80.3 billion on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)/Nasdaq at the time of reporting.

Dogecoin (listed as DOGE on the cryptocurrency market) was priced at around $0.66, marking around a 53 percent rise in the last 24 hours. The price reached as high as just over $0.69 at one point in the same time period, according to CoinMarketCap.

NEWSWEEK NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP >The graphic below, produced by Statista, shows the price changes of selected cryptocurrencies in 2021.



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Its 24-hour trading volume was at over $52.3 billion on Wednesday, marking a 271 percent increase in the same timeframe, according to CoinMarketCap.NEWSWEEK SUBSCRIPTION OFFERS >


Dogecoin's latest market cap value was also more than double that of Twitter. The social media platform's market cap was listed at around $43.4 billion on NYSE at the time of reporting.

The joke cryptocurrency ranked 138th in a list of top assets by market cap on AssetDash, a leaderboard for assets. GM ranked 155 and Twitter ranked 290.

The price of dogecoin has seen a series of surges in recent months, including in mid-April.

The cryptocurrency hit a new all-time high, as the value of a single dogecoin surpassed 20 cents for the first time on April 15.Its value soared from late January, rising by more than 800 percent at one point.

The price flattened out from mid-February and climbed on a sharp incline from early April, according to data from CoinMarketCap.Its price surge has been helped by social media buzz, with nods from public figures such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk and several celebrities, as well as more recently from Slim Jim, the American snack brand.


Dogecoin's price hike on April 15 reportedly came after a shout-out from the CEO of Conagra Brands, the parent company of Slim Jim. The meat stick brand has been tweeting about Dogecoin from early March.

The Twitter account of Slim Jim saw a 160 percent increase in followers after it began engaging with Dogecoin content. Its tweet impressions also soared, receiving 35 million impressions in 25 days, according to Conagra CEO Sean Connolly, CoinDesk first reported on April 15.

"We've seen a market uptick in audience interaction, including direct engagement and advocacy from the person that created Dogecoin," Connolly said on an earnings call at the time.

A bill seeking to “pause” crypto mining for three years in New York was referred to the state's Environmental Conservation committee on May 3.

Crypto miners in New York may be subject to a forced three-year hiatus if the latest environmentally-focused bill passes in the state senate.

The New York Senate Bill 6486 was proposed by Democrat senator Kevin S. Parker, the Chairman of Committee on Energy and Telecommunications, and co-sponsored by fellow Democrat senator Rachel May, the Chair of Committee on Aging, Chair of Legislative Commission on Rural Resources.

The bill is yet to receive widespread backing from other senators, however the Democrats do control the lower house and senate.

The bill seeks to “establish a moratorium on the operation of cryptocurrency mining centers,” to slow the environmental impacts of fossil-fuel-backed crypto mining in particular.It also aims to enforce stricter regulations for mining centers, such as the requirement to undergo an environmental impact review, which would prevent crypto mining if the facility does not comply with New York’s climate change targets.

The Bill was referred to the Environmental Conservation Committee on May 3 and claims to be acting in accordance with New York’s “Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act,” with that bill stating that:

“A single cryptocurrency transaction uses the same amount of energy that an average American household uses in one month, with an estimated level of global energy usage equivalent to that of the country of Swede.”

“It is reasonable to believe the associated greenhouse gas emissions will irreparably harm compliance with the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in contravention of state law. ” the bill adds.

The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act was passed in 2019 and set targets such as 70% renewable energy by 2030, 100% zero-emission electricity by 2040, and 22 million tons of carbon reduction through energy efficiency and electrification.

Crypto mining is already a hot topic in New York, such as the proposed expansion of Greenbridge’s gas-fired Bitcoin plant on Seneca Lake. The plant reportedly has plans to power up to 27,000 computers that will run 24/7 to mine Bitcoin.

The Environmental Group Seneca Lake Guardian are outraged with the proposal, and stated in a call to action published on Feb. 1 that: “Cuomo can’t lead on climate change, and support Bitcoin expansion on Seneca.

”Speaking in response to the Greenbridge’s potential crypto mining operations, Yvonne Taylor, Vice President of the Environmental Group Seneca Lake Guardian, noted that:

“We’re talking about burning more fossil fuels to make fake money in the middle of climate change, which we view as insane.”

There are moves around the world to regulate crypto mining in light of carbon targets, and especially in China which accounts for an estimated 65% of the world’s Bitcoin hashing power.

On April 27 Beijing sent an “emergency notice” to conduct checks on data centers involved in crypto mining, with the CCP reportedly moving to impose stricter supervision on crypto mining in the nation, amid concerns of failing to meet China’s climate change-focused “five-year plan.”