Like a dog that just got out of a cage, the excitement being shown by Dogecoin (DOGE) these days is huge, if not contagious.
The once dubbed “joke cryptocurrency” that started out in 2013 hit another record high when it reached $0.43 early Monday. According to data source Messari, this extended Dogecoin rally last week saw it attain a 340% gain.
In hitting the new high, the meme digital currency, even just for a moment, replaced the payment-focused XRP as the fourth largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization.
During that time, its market capitalization stood at over $54 billion, besting XRP’s $53.4 billion.
Rally towards $1
The recent rally has also made price expectations for the rest of the year rise. The betting website us-bookies.com revealed that now, odd makers see a 17% probability of Dogecoin climbing to $1 by year-end. It’s a far cry from the 2.9% probability recorded at the start of the month.
After briefly reaching $0.43 today, DOGE has retracted to $0.39, putting its market capitalization back at around $50 billion, ending its short moment of victory over XRP, but still impressive nonetheless.
Gizmodo Australia was quoted by CoinDesk as saying: “Many dogecoiners are predicting the coin to hit 69 cents on 4/20, you know, because the whole currency is a giant meme.”
The 4/20 fever
This recent rally of Dogecoin comes before the much-anticipated “Dogeday.”
A number of posters on Twitter are calling Tuesday, April 20 Dogeday, celebrated annually as the unofficial holiday by cannabis smokers. It is also associated with Tesla Inc top honcho Elon Musk, whose Twitter comments have always had a major impact on the price of the DOGE.
Last week, the billionaire created some sort of frenzy after tweeting an image depicting the DOGE mascot barking at the moon.
Meanwhile, some observers fear the price rally is just a bubble that can burst easily because the ownership of Dogecoin is concentrated in a few hands. Akand Sitra of TRM Labs said that “65% of all Dogecoins are kept in just 98 wallets across the world.”
Still, the fever builds up, and the crypto community awaits the next big thing that can happen from DOGE.
Image courtesy of BitBoy Crypto/YouTube