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Dogecoin’s astonishing surge in the past week has been amazing enough, but now proponents of the cryptocurrency are promoting a celebratory holiday—Doge Day—for the money that no one was meant to take seriously. Advocates are hoping to see Dogecoin hit $1 on April 20—one week after it was valued at just 9¢.
Dogecoin has already hit some financial landmarks that didn’t seem possible at the start of the year. Its market value has topped $50 billion, making it bigger than Ford or Marriott. And if it comes close to hitting its target Tuesday, it could outpace some blue-chip companies.
For once (for now), Elon Musk has nothing to do with the furor surrounding Dogecoin. This time, the credit goes, in part, to…Slim Jim.
Really.
The packaged meat product latched on to Dogecoin-mania on its Twitter account last Wednesday (saying “RT to send Doge to the moon!!”—the rallying cry among the r/WallStreetBets crowd for GameStop stock). The cry worked. Doge fans—and even other brands—jumped on the bandwagon quickly.
Dogecoin has had a value of half a cent for most of its seven-year history. Ten thousand new Dogecoins are programmed to be issued every minute for the rest of eternity, meaning the value will never hold. It’s a cryptocurrency that’s meant to always get cheaper. Even the creator of the coin is flummoxed by its rise.
At least one person or company might be making real money on the Dogecoin surge, though. In February, word escaped that an unknown entity currently holds roughly 28% of the Dogecoin in circulation—some 38.6 billion Dogecoin. After today’s high point, that was worth nearly $5.6 billion.
In early afternoon trading Tuesday, Dogecoin was up 27% to 39¢. Year to date, the cryptocurrency is up a mind-boggling 8,224%.
Related reading: Dogecoin finds new uses on ‘Doge Day’
More must-read finance coverage from Fortune:
- Why you can expect Coinbase to have a very hard time justifying its $61 billion market cap
- Why a million and one startups all seem to do the same thing now
- Commentary: No, we are not in another housing bubble
- COVID’s educational impact: 25% of students postponed college
- These analysts make the “bull” case for Coinbase’s stock
