Dogecoin was on the rebound Monday after posting double-digit percentage losses over the weekend after the digital token was used to pay for a lunar satellite launch that SpaceX, the commercial rocket company founded by Tesla (TSLA) – Get Report CEO Elon Musk, will deploy next year.
The cryptocurrency first launched as a lark at last check was up 5.95% at 50.3 cents on Monday after Calgary-based Geometric Energy said it had paid SpaceX in Dogecoin to launch a mini-satellite as part of a Moon voyage SpaceX is planning in 2022.
The so-called DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon is the first commercial lunar payload in history paid for entirely with Dogecoin, according to a statement from Geometric. The 40-kilogram (88 pounds) cubesat will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Geometric didn’t specify the amount of Dogecoin it paid to SpaceX to carry the mini satellite.
The development is just the latest twist in the saga over the digital token, which started as a joke in 2013 but is now a dominating internet meme and sitting on a 21,000% rally in the past year.
Ethereum Gets the Last Laugh as It Surpasses $4,000
Musk has been a key player in the dogecoin drama, boosting the price with a succession of tweets in recent months as well as several in-jest jabs during his appearance on “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend.
Meantime, ether surged past $4,000 Monday to a new record high, extending a stunning rally for the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency.
Ether, the digital token of the ethereum blockchain, was up more than 8% at $4,138.86, according to CoinDesk. It now has a total market value of $476.3 billion, just under half of bitcoin’s $1.1 trillion market value.
Ether has seen big gains of late as investors look to other cryptocurrencies for returns, especially those that can produce their own via so-called Proof of Stake, or PoS – where a person or firm can mine or validate block transactions according to how many coins they hold.
Affiliated with the ethereum blockchain – a digital ledger popular for financial services and sales of so-called non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, and other “cryptocollectibles” – ethereum has jumped about 1,500% in the past 12 months.
