Dogecoin Creator Billy Markus Says 'Stay Safe, Be Smart' as Crypto Hits Highest Price
Dogecoin (DOGE) co-founder and creator Billy Markus has urged people to stay cautious when trading the cryptocurrency and warned of its volatility.
The cryptocurrency has experienced a surge of attention in recent days and its value reached an all-time high of $0.25 on Thursday. Its 7-day price is up over 300 percent, and 80 percent in the last 24 hours. At the start of this year, DOGE was worth just $0.007.
Markus tweeted: "For real though guys keep some rationality when gambling on highly volatile assets like cryptocurrency.
"Euphoria is a helluva drug, but y'know, at least keep paying your bills and feeding your family and have a safe rainy day fund."
The cryptocurrency is widely regarded as a meme and was initially started as a joke—Markus told Newsweek last month that he'd built it in just a few hours.
Despite this, the cryptocurrency has climbed the ranks to become one of the top 10 most valuable cryptocurrencies in the world.
The value of all DOGE in circulation—also referred to as the coin's market cap—is currently $32.4 billion, making it eighth on price tracking site Coinmarketcap's crypto list. It was in tenth place only a couple of days ago.
On Thursday night, Markus tweeted: "Just so you know, guys, this is unusual."
Cryptocurrencies are widely regarded as a volatile asset, known for leaping to high prices and sinking quickly, too. Skeptics of the technology believe crypto is a bubble that will burst at some point.
The rise of DOGE in recent weeks has been attributed in part to high-profile support by public figures such as Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Kiss frontman Gene Simmons.
The coin also has an active community of followers on Twitter and Reddit, meaning large-scale movements to boost price are possible. Some observers have compared DOGE to GameStop—the retail stock that Reddit community WallStreetBets rallied from around $20 to a high of $480.
Yet, DOGE has a long way to go before it matches the price of more established cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. A single Bitcoin is currently worth more than $60,000, and its market cap is $1.15 trillion.
DOGE has no fundamental value. It is not tied to a particular asset or service, and has been described as a purely sentiment-driven asset. It's also not widely accepted as a form of payment in real-life retail outlets, though a handful of companies do take it.
