“If major Dogecoin holders sell most of their coins, it will get my full support.”
That was Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk in a tweet on Sunday. “Too much concentration is the only real issue imo,” he added. That was followed a few hours later by this tweet: “I will literally pay actual $ if they just void their accounts.”
The cryptocurrency, which was originally created in 2013 just to satirize the hype around the rise of questionable cryptocurrencies at the time, fell 9% on Monday to 0.057 cent. From its Feb. 7 record high of 0.087, dogecoin is down about 34%, according to data from CoinDesk. On Sunday, it was already off more than 20% from that high, a drop that meets a commonly used Wall Street definition of a bear market.
Read: Why is dogecoin falling? The crypto has tumbled 20% since its Monday record
But dogecoin is still up about 900% year-to-date, benefiting from a general surge in cryptocurrencies, and after a frenzy for Reddit-fueled stocks last month spilled into the sector. Even Billy Markus, co-founder and creator of the volatile cryptocurrency, has said its stratospheric rise is “not something I can comprehend.”
Tesla, meanwhile, recently revealed that it invested $ 1.5 billion in the No. 1 cryptocurrency, bitcoin BTCUSD, -1.62%, and could, in future, begin to accept it as payment for its products. Bitcoin skirted close to a record $ 50,000 over the weekend as some traditional Wall Street companies waded into cryptocurrencies.
While Musk may appear to be trying to cool the fervor around dogecoin, he’s credited by some for helping light a fire under the cryptocurrency after a series of seemingly bullish tweets, like this one from late December: “One word: Doge.”
In early February, he inspired another hefty rally with a spate of tweets in which he referred to dogecoin as “the people’s crypto,” and shared a picture of a rocket to the moon with one word: Doge. Celebrities such as Gene Simmons of the rock band Kiss have also voiced support for Doge.
Read: Should I buy dogecoin? Why prices of the cryptocurrency are surging — but risky
And: Dogecoin? A lot of ‘retail punters are going to lose money,’ says crypto expert