On Thursday, rumors alleging that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would open a probe into tech billionaire Elon Musk’s tweets that affected the price of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency went viral on Twitter, leading to a series of media reports.
According to InverstorPlace, it was the financial blog Zero Hedge that reported the development in the Musk-Dogecoin tale, citing sources familiar with the matter.
No official statement from the SEC followed the rumors.
Soon after the rumor spread, however, Elon Musk - dubbed by some Twittarians as "Emperor Musk" - expressed hope that the SEC would indeed conduct the investigation.
Speculation about an alleged SEC investigation began circulating one day after Musk posted a new Dogecoin tweet with just one word: "literally", and a picture of the cryptocurrency's mascot on the moon, "the actual moon" as Musk specified in a follow-up tweet.
Some suggested that the SpaceX CEO hinted at the possibility of his son, whom as Musk tweeted earlier had bought "some Dogecoin", would travel to the moon one day.
Musk drew SEC attention some years ago after tweets about Tesla’s privatization caused company shares to rise 11 percent and “misled investors.” Legal proceedings led to an agreement with the SEC that committed Musk to get preliminary approval from an "experienced securities lawyer" for any post regarding Tesla’s activities.
Dogecoin's story
Launched in 2013 following Bitcoin's success, Dogecoin is a joke cryptocurrency with a ridiculously tiny price, one of many copycat cryptocurrencies initiated at the time. Its symbol is a popular Internet meme" Doge, a Shiba Inu dog.
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose meme activity in Twitter has many times affected financial markets, is a well-known fan of cryptocurrencies. His tweets regarding the Dogecoin, posted at the beginning of this month, resulted in significant leap in the cryptocurrency’s value.
On February 6, Musk published a poll in which he jokingly asked about the future currency of the Earth with two options only: "Dogecoin to the moon” and "All other cryptocurrencies together." 2.4 million people took part in the vote, with 71.3% choosing the first variant. The phrase 'to the moon' in trading and investing means that an asset is rising.
Following the attention of netizens, Musk posted a meme showing himself as the mandril Rafiki from "The Lion King", holding up the Doge for all to see.
The viral initiative was picked up by rapper Snoop Dog, along with other celebrities, and the joke went out of control.
After the tweets, Dogecoin increased by an unprecedented 50 percent (from $0.043 to $0.087), rushing into the top-10 cryptocurrencies in terms of capitalization. At the moment Dogecoin is capitalized at $6.7 billion. Recently, Dogecoin's price fall by more than four percent throughout the last 24 hours to $0.05, according to Coindesk website.