Dogecoin continues to rally as bitcoin picks up off its lows
Cryptocurrencies were broadly higher on Thursday morning as joke token dogecoin continued to rally, getting a boost earlier this week after being listed by Coinbase Pro and getting support from Tesla (TSLA) chief Elon Musk.
Dogecoin (DOGE-USD) was up almost 9%, trading at $0.42 (£0.30). It now has a market capitalisation of roughly $54b, making it the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market value, according to Coinbase.
Coinbase is the largest US cryptocurrency exchange and Pro is its professional-level trading platform. Some reports have suggested it will soon begin supporting dogecoin on its retail trading platform as well.
"The addition to the Coinbase exchange, arguably the most credible crypto exchange, provides a firm stamp of approval for dogecoin, and provides a boost to investor sentiment," James Campion, founder of fintech Ourea, told Yahoo Finance UK.
"Individual investors have been clamouring online this year for Coinbase to start supporting the cryptocurrency as a manic rally spurred the prices of an array of digital assets including bitcoin, ether, SafeMoon and dogecoin to new heights," The Wall Street Journal reported.
Meanwhile, Musk has continued to tweet about the crypto, creating quite a frenzy.
Watch: Ethereum Co-Founder: Dogecoin has no user utility right now
Responding to the news about Coinbase, he had retweeted a picture that shows dogecoin taking over the global financial system, and said: "It's inevitable."
Mainstream crypto bitcoin (BTC-USD) ticked up roughly 3.4%, trading at $38,704. It is inching back towards the $40,000 mark, but is still far from its all-time high of $63,000. Ethereum (ETH-USD), the world's second largest crypto by market cap, was up about 4.9% to trade at $2,826.
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Both continue to recover from an earlier sell-off that came partly due to crackdowns in countries like China and Iran, and criticism in Japan.
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has recently warned that many crypto firms are withdrawing applications to register with the regulator because they are unable to to meet its anti-money laundering standards.
But cryptos also have supporters: this week the finance minister of Norway suggested cryptos will at some point move past their volatility, Bloomberg reported.
“It is clear that there may be a development over time, whereby you will be able to get more stabilisation mechanisms in the currencies that can lead to greater breakthroughs and upheavals in the slightly longer term,” Jan Tore Sanner said, but added for now it’s “not a market I would recommend consumers to enter.”
Watch: What are the risks of investing in cryptocurrency?
