Dogecoin in Spotlight as Cryptocurrency Backer Elon Musk Makes SNL Appearance

"I'm a wild card, no telling what I might do," Musk said earlier this week.

By Reuters | Updated: 8 May 2021 10:39 IST

Dogecoin in Spotlight as Cryptocurrency Backer Elon Musk Makes SNL Appearance

Elon Musk is the rare business mogul to be asked to host SNL

Highlights

Elon Musk will host SNL at 11:30pm EDT (9am IST, Sunday) on Saturday
Musk has posted numerous comments about cryptocurrencies on Twitter
Dogecoin has jumped more than 800 percent over the last month

With the price of Dogecoin surging, investors are looking ahead to Elon Musk's guest-host spot on this weekend's Saturday Night Live comedy sketch TV show after the billionaire's tweets this year turned the once-obscure digital currency into a speculator's dream.

The Tesla Chief Executive will host the show at 11:30pm EDT (9am IST, Sunday) on Saturday (0330 GMT on Sunday). The timing puts Musk, who is also known as an enthusiast of cryptocurrencies, back in the spotlight just as Tesla's stock is losing steam following last year's monster rally.

Guest starring … pic.twitter.com/buM3bTOWbX
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 7, 2021

Musk is the rare business mogul to be asked to host the venerable comedy TV show.

The unconventional CEO has posted numerous comments about cryptocurrencies on Twitter and criticised regular old cash for having negative real interest rates. "Only a fool wouldn't look elsewhere," he said in February.

Elon Musk Asks Twitter for Ideas for SNL Skits Ahead of His Next Appearance

His cryptic tweets "Doge" and "Dogecoin is the people's crypto" that month kicked off a rally in Dogecoin - created as a joke on the more mainstream bitcoin and Ethereum - that has yet to stop.

"I'm a wild card, no telling what I might do," Musk, wearing a black bandana, joked this week in a promotional video for the show alongside musical guest Miley Cyrus. "Same here," Cyrus said. "Rules? No thanks."

On Thursday, Musk tweeted: "Cryptocurrency is promising, but please invest with caution!" with a video clip attached in which he said, "it should be considered speculation at this point. And so, you know, don't don't go too far in the crypto speculation ..."

What Happens if You Try to Download Torrents on Elon Musk’s Starlink?

But he also said, in the video, that cryptocurrency has a "good chance" of becoming what he called "the future currency of the earth."

"My Dogecoin went up after you tweeted," one person shouted at Musk in the video. "You're amazing. How did you do it?”

On crypto data tracker CoinGecko.com, Dogecoin has jumped more than 800 percent over the last month and is now the fourth-largest digital currency, with a market capitalisation of $81 billion (roughly Rs. 5.93 lakh crores). It was last up nearly 14 percent on the day at $0.62 (roughly Rs. 46).

It has overtaken more widely used cryptocurrencies like Litecoin and Tether.

"The latest surge in Dogecoin is a continuation of the greater fool theory trend we've seen playing out over the past couple of months," said David Kimberley, analyst at investing app Freetrade.

"More people are aware of what's going on and are looking to jump on the gravy train to make a quick buck. It's very likely that Elon Musk pumping the coin tomorrow on prime-time US TV will only serve to compound things and push the price up."

Tesla said in February it bought $1.5 billion (roughly Rs. 10,988 crores) worth of Bitcoin and would soon accept it as a form of payment for its electric cars, a large stride toward mainstream acceptance that sent Bitcoin soaring to a record high of nearly $62,000 (roughly Rs. 45.41 lakh).

Tesla shares closed 1.3 percent higher at $672.37 (roughly Rs. 49,300) on Friday.

Is Mi 11X the best phone under Rs. 35,000? We discussed this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Later (starting at 23:50), we jump over to the Marvel series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.