Business

Dogecoin surges as Reddit traders push for crypto version of GameStop

Even a literal joke cryptocurrency is surging thanks to the new power of retail investors on internet message boards.

The price of Dogecoin — a bitcoin alternative named after an internet dog meme — popped 142 percent on Thursday after users on Reddit boards began to egg each other on to plow into it after being frozen out of stocks like GameStop and AMC.

“With all this going on does anyone want to try to kick off a Dogecoin Rally??????,” a Reddit user posted on Wednesday. “It’s really cheap and wouldn’t be that hard to do.”

In the following hours, Dogecoin, an alt-coin invented in 2013 by a pair of coders who wanted to lampoon the crypto market, saw its value soar on dizzying trading volume, pushing its total market capitalization to $2.42 billion.

Doge has become a bellwether meme for the Reddit army and its mainstream heroes, used to demonstrate how users can manipulate prices if they move together.

In December, short squeeze folk hero Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted “One word: Doge” setting off a 20 percent rally.

While Thursday’s move appears to have lost some of its steam, crypto insiders say that Doge remains one to watch for onlookers hoping to see if the “Reddit Rally” has staying power.

“Doge is what people buy if they want to make a statement,” cautioned one crypto trader. “It’s so cheap that you can make it move so easy, that’s why the pranksters love it.”