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- Shiba inu coin’s price jumped on Wednesday, taking its weekly gain to more than 240%.
- The meme token has skyrocketed after Elon Musk tweeted a picture of his Shiba Inu dog Monday.
- Shiba inu’s rise comes during a broad upswing in the cryptocurrency market that saw bitcoin top $50,000.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Shiba inu coin’s breakneck rally has showed no signs of slowing down, with the dogecoin-inspired token soaring on Wednesday to take its weekly gains to 240%.
The run higher was sparked by Elon Musk tweeting about his Shiba Inu dog on Monday, demonstrating the influence the Tesla boss has in crypto markets.
Shiba inu coin was up 32% to $0.00002399 on Wednesday as of 10.25 a.m. ET, according to Coingecko data. The token had gained 243% over the last seven days, Coingecko data showed.
The token was founded in 2020, with its anonymous creator dubbing it a “meme token.” It explicitly mimicked dogecoin, a cryptocurrency started in 2013 as a joke that captured the imagination of crypto retail traders.
Shiba inu has gained during an upswing in the broader cryptocurrency market, which saw bitcoin top $50,000 for the first time in a month on Tuesday.
Yet the token has beaten the rest of the market handsomely, with analysts pointing to Musk’s tweet as a catalyst. Musk on Monday tweeted a picture of his pet Shiba Inu with the caption “Floki Frunkpuppy.”
The Tesla boss is hugely influential in crypto markets and has been a key player in the digital-asset boom in 2021. Even his minor interventions have triggered big moves in the crypto markets.
The rally has seen shiba inu’s market capitalization – the total value of the existing coins – near $12 billion. It is now in the top 20 biggest cryptocurrencies, according to Coinmarketcap.
Shiba’s rise appeared to be lifting dogecoin, the token that inspired it. Doge was up slightly to $0.25872 on Wednesday, having risen 32% over the last seven days.
Shiba inu coin rose as high as $0.00035 in May during a surge in so-called meme tokens. Analysts at the Kraken exchange said in a note on Wednesday that such a trend could soon take off again.
“A number of market participants see a rotation back into memecoins/dogcoins as being inevitable,” they said.
“While one could expect capital to flow back into these names should 4Q prove to be as promising as many expect it to be, there’s no guarantee the momentum holds up in the short term.”