Are you a robot?
Why did this happen?
Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.
Crypto exchange CEO is surprised Elon Musk is so into Dogecoin
Elon Musk’s love for Dogecoin is turning heads even in the crypto world.
“I’m surprised Elon is so gung-ho on Dogecoin – but this is a decentralized, free world, anybody can like anything," Binance Holdings Ltd. chief executive and founder Changpeng Zhao said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Friday.
Musk, the founder of Tesla Inc. and the world’s richest man, has tweeted multiple times about the Shiba Inu-themed cryptocurrency that was started as a joke in 2013. And Binance, operator of one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, has recently added Dogecoin futures on its platform to satisfy new liquidity demand.
Binance is raking in new users at its fastest pace ever as Bitcoin tops $50,000. The crypto behemoth has been attracting more than 300,000 new user registrations on a day to day basis, sustaining above a previous peak in 2017, Zhao said.
The optimism over institutional interest, among other factors, has helped Bitcoin surge more than 400% over the past year. Earlier this month, Tesla Inc. announced it bought $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and would accept the world’s biggest digital coin as a payment. The crypto mania has also benefited smaller tokens like Dogecoin.
Binance’s own token BNB has outperformed Bitcoin, though Zhao noted it also has higher risk than the largest cryptocurrency as well, comparing their volatility levels. Binance Coin started as a loyalty program incentivizing user trades but now powers the decentralized applications on Binance’s own blockchain.
“There’s a lot more activity now in this industry than three years ago," said Zhao, who also goes by CZ. “We are just at the beginning."
Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.
Share Via
Crypto roundup: Altcoins surge as Bitcoin consolidates
share
Link copied to
clipboard
Bitcoin is little changed over the last 24 hours, sitting at US$51,800 ($66,900) at 10am today, but a number of altcoins including Dogecoin are making double-digit gains
Ethereum was up five per cent to $US1,937 ($2,500) and had hit an all-time high of $1,947 just before 9am AEDT and many crypto bulls were forecasting a move over $US20,000 shortly.
#Ethereum started marching towards Mordor($20,000) to defeat the army of Sauron(Bankers) 🚀🚀🚀🚀 pic.twitter.com/de0pBmOTV0 — Demon (@superhammad) February 18, 2021
Of the 55 crypto-assets available on Kraken, 37 are up, one is flat and 17 are down. Dogecoin is the best-performing in the past 24 hours, up 22.7 per cent to US6.078c after falling under five US cents on Monday. The meme coin is up 6.5-fold in the past month after being shilled by Elon Musk. The latest pump may be driven in part by speculation, including a lengthy Reddit post, that Robinhood has accumulated a significant stake in Dogecoin with a wallet worth nearly $US2 billion.
Robinhood said on Twitter this morning that it fully intends to provide the ability to deposit and withdraw crypto, but “does NOT currently invest in cryptocurrency or use any customer cryptocurrency for our own benefit”. Right now Robinhood users can’t transfer coins, just trade them.
Whatever the reason for the price pike, Dogecoin enthusiasts were celebrating.
If we hit a dime its all over folks! The dollar and bitcoin will collapse completely and Doge will become president of space #Dogecoin pic.twitter.com/g7WwiuVpsu — ZappityZuSu (@ZappityS) February 18, 2021
#Dogecoin coming with a tanks to hold the line 🚀🚀🎉 pic.twitter.com/3DCfF4O23r — Mambo (@mambo744) February 18, 2021
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Join our small cap Facebook group
Follow us on Facebook or Twitter