Dogecoin (CCC:DOGE-USD) has clearly been having a hard time in the past several months. It’s now down to 17.1 cents as of Dec. 18 and has a market capitalization of $22.8 billion at the same time. In the past two months, DOGE crypto peaked out on Oct. 28 at 32.77 cents. This means it is essentially down 47.8% from its peak in less than 2 months.
Dogecoin (DOGE) is a cryptocurrency that features the Shiba Inu dog from the “Doge” meme as its logo. Created for payments, DOGE is designed for fast transactions and low fees. But now it is in free fall.
However, it seems like things are overdone here. As I wrote earlier last week, it appears that much of the selling at this point has to do with year-end tax sale harvesting.
Dogecoin and Elon Musk
That is why the comments from Elon Musk, Time Magazine’s new Person of the Year, last week concerning Dogecoin were so welcome. Earlier this week, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Musk’s electric vehicle manufacturing company, said it will start accepting Dogecoin for various merchandise.
Musk did not specify which merchandise it will allow payments to be made in Dogecoin, but he said he will see how it goes. Some of the novelty items it has for sale online range from $50 to $1,900 per item. That’s why he said he will see how it goes — he wants to see if it is worth it to allow Dogecoin to be used as a currency.
This fits in with his view concerning Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD). He told Time magazine that Bitcoin is better as a store of value, rather than a transactional currency. He said that he would rather use Dogecoin as a transactional currency.
This is quite a turnaround from his original statement on Saturday Night Live earlier this year on May 9. In that appearance, he jokingly referred to Dogecoin as a “hustle,” when asked.
Now that his company is looking to accept payment in Dogecoin, that is quite a turnaround from his earlier statement.
The Latest with Dogecoin Blockchain
Tesla’s adoption of Dogecoin comes right on the heels of AMC (NYSE:AMC) and its CEO’s acknowledgment of Dogecoin as a form of payment. There is also good news regarding Dogecoin concerning a new version of the Dogecoin blockchain that was released recently, according to CryptoSlate magazine.
One of the advantages of this new core version will be to lower transaction fees. The update will enable third-party wallets to support cheaper transaction fees, improve security for wallets and upgrade the blockchain’s performance.
The new version was released on Nov. 9 to immediate fanfare. The update 1.14.5 is “a new minor version release” according to a GitHub note. According to a recent note in Ambcrypto, 98% of the Dogecoin nodes had already adopted this upgrade as of Nov. 9.
Where This Leaves DOGE Crypto
Investors in DOGE crypto need to consider that at this point it looks like the cryptocurrency is clearly at a trough point. That makes it worth looking at closely as a potential investment at this point.
For one, new investors in DOGE crypto will be getting a bargain entry price. On the other hand, existing investors have a chance to lower their average cost in the crypto by buying more at these prices.
In any case, investors must believe that the crypto has another leg up, despite its troubles right now. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that outsized personalities like Elon Musk are trying to help the cryptocurrency make it a viable method of transactional payment.
On the date of publication, Mark R. Hake did not hold any position (either directly or indirectly) in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
Mark Hake writes about personal finance on mrhake.medium.com and Newsbreak.com runs the Total Yield Value Guide which you can review here.
