If there is any term that appropriately describes Tesla CEO Elon Musk, it is probably ‘eccentric billionaire’. He has been known over the years for his interesting antics, including a now-famous appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast, the unusual name he gave his newest child X Æ A-12, and his activities on social media.
With regards to the latter, he has been known to publicly support cryptocurrencies, especially bitcoin and dogecoin. This has included the now-suspended move to accept bitcoin for products by Tesla, consistently tweeting about cryptos and his recent appearance on SNL.
Musk on SNL
Crypto enthusiasts had been anticipating Musk's arrival on Saturday Night Live for weeks. Musk hyped his impending visit on Saturday Night Live by tweeting "The Dogefather SNL May 8."
At the time, the idea was that he would take the chance to promote dogecoin to a larger audience, so driving the price even higher. He did make at least two references to dogecoin throughout his presentation, once in a monologue with his mother and once in a skit in which he portrays a figure straining to explain what dogecoin is.
It was classic Musk; not taking himself too seriously while still incorporating important aspects of his life; obvious humor, his mother, his partner, and technology. In the lead-up to his appearance, there was debate about what it would mean for the industry and dogecoin specifically. Investors padded their portfolios with dogecoin ahead of the date and the price soared to an all-time high of around 70 cents. By the day after Musk’s appearance, the price of dogecoin tumbled, eventually falling to a low point of below 40 cents, the exact opposite of what crypto users had expected.
What Happened?
With all the hype behind Musk’s appearance on SNL, how did the effect of the SNL appearance end up being a price decline instead of a major bull run? It can be argued that the appearance had too much hype behind it and bad timing.
In the past, Elon Musk’s tweets about bitcoin or dogecoin have been known to signal bull runs. However, these tweets and public shows of support were mostly spontaneous and sudden; a tweet at midnight, for example. In the case of the SNL appearance, it was confirmed for days beforehand.
This pushed crypto users into a frenzy and many of them bought dogecoin in anticipation of a price run. However, the increased demand ended up causing a price run to the point of a new all-time high. When Musk finally made his appearance, there was not much else dogecoin could do in terms of a price run, especially given that it just began seeing mainstream attention this year,
Also, given that Musk did not shill dogecoin as hard as his fans might have assumed he would, the excitement died down even more and thus, a price decline.
Doge Moving Forward
Despite this disappointing streak, all is not lost for dogecoin. In the week following Musk on SNL, the token has risen steadily in price, now hovering at around 50 cents. While the bull runs that dogecoin saw earlier this year were exciting, the market is quickly maturing, especially given newfound competition from the SHINBA token created to compete with it.
There is now more emphasis on the practical application of the network behind dogecoin. Currently, DogeLabs.io and AppSwarm Corp, a mobile app development firm, have announced plans to put together a team to build even more on dogecoin’s potential moving forward
“While we build out our own development teams here in New York City and [Tulsa, Okla.] the plan is to also bring together developers from around the world who wish to build off the Doge blockchain,” said Tom Bustamante, CEO of DogeLabs.
From all indications, dogecoin is on its way to becoming even bigger, Elon Musk or not.
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I had no idea there was actually legitimate development happening on Doge, maybe it will develop into an interesting chain, I think the poor token distribution will always be a problem though
Dogecoin!..... Hmmm. Don't they say; "If you've got nothing good to say just don't say anything at all"?................................................