Dogecoin is the crypto joke that just keeps on giving. The latest twist in its comical history is its adoption by a virtual tour bus of celebrities, who are intent on taking it to the moon.
It’s ironic because Dogecoin—or “the dog stocks,” as Internet celebrity Mia Khalifa calls it—was invented as a riposte to Bitcoin; it was meant as a send-up of the full-on madness of the cryptocurrency industry, where hype is a common denominator, and memes rule.
Dogecoin is based on the Shiba Inu breed. Image credit: Pixabay
The coin, featuring “Doge,” a cute, Japanese Shibu Inu dog, even has its own meme-language. “Much wow!” and “such vroom,” says Doge, often while riding a rocket to the moon. It was created in 2013 by two developers: Australian Jackson Palmer and American Billy Markus
Elon Musk names himself Dogecoin CEO
Elon Musk has been tweeting about Dogecoin since at least April 2, 2019, when he shared a satirical article from The Onion about Bitcoin price volatility and added: “Dogecoin value may vary.” He followed up with: “Dogecoin might be my fav cryptocurrency. It’s pretty cool.”
Musk has treated his followers to a series of increasingly creative Dogecoin tweets, including “dogs rock,” and “throw a dogecoin to ur witcher," a reference to a song in the popular Netflix show The Witcher (he later deleted the tweet.) Then, when a community poll mooted his appointment to honorary CEO, he accepted with alacrity and even changed his Twitter bio to “Dogecoin CEO” to reflect his new appointment.
New celebrity joined the "ride"
They piled into Dogecoin, and a host of new celebrity supporters joined the ride. Mia Khalifa, a Lebanese-American Internet celebrity, was one of the new celebrity converts. She rose to fame on Pornhub, later joining the OnlyFans social media platform, and now has 15 million followers on TikTok.
Rappers, YouTubers and Alex Lange (who?)
American rapper Lil Yachty has reportedly said that he is planning to invest a third of his wealth in Dogecoin, and has shilled the crypto since earlier this month.
And other new, Dogecoin aficionados include YouTubers, such as KEEMStar, creator of entertainment show #DramaAlert, who has 2.4 million Twitter followers and has supported the crypto since July 2020. Another fan is Welsh YouTuber Ben Phillips, who is known for his pranks, usually on his brother Elliot, and has 4.6 million subscribers.
South African actor Alex Lange is a fan. The 19-year-old is best known for his affiliation with popular web crew “Team 10, ” and has featured in shows including “The Unsettling,” “Code Black” and “Light As A Feather.”
Celebrities get paid to shill Dogecoin
Cameo, a service that lets people pay celebrities to read out custom messages, has been responsible for at least part of the celebrity pump.
Rapper, entrepreneur, and streamer Soulja Boy (a.k.a. Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em) gave the DOGE his (paid-for) endorsement via a Dogecoin-is-the-future video earlier this month. He has 5.2 million followers on Twitter alone.
