By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, Jun 2 (Reuters) – Dogecóin, a meme-based cryptocurrency popular with retail investors, rose on Wednesday, benefiting from news that digital asset exchange Coinbase will make the crypto unit in its home market available to users. trading platform.
Coinbase said Tuesday that it will immediately accept incoming dogecóin transfers on Coinbase Pro, a trading platform for professional traders.
Dogecóin was up 31% Wednesday to 41 cents on the Coinbase news. That brought the cryptocurrency’s market capitalization to $ 54 billion, making it the sixth-largest token, according to data and market tracker CoinGecko.com.
Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at OANDA in New York, said dogecóin is nowhere near the level it was before Tesla CEO Elon Musk criticized the cryptocurrency last month during his appearance on Saturday Night Live. , an American television comedy show.
But this “dogecóin bounce comes during a period when the cryptoverse is experiencing position consolidation, so it should come as no surprise if this recent rally fades or if it makes another attempt to skyrocket,” he added.
Dogecóin lost more than a third of its price after Musk, a big supporter of the coin, called it a “scam” during his appearance as a guest host on Saturday Night Live.
The dogecóin rise came during a surge in online trading of stocks and cryptocurrencies by retail investors, locked in their homes and with extra cash due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The currency has not seen great growth in the use of payments or in commerce.
A boom in the use of online trading apps like Robinhood also fueled GameStop Corp’s stock rally this year, pitting retail investors against hedge funds.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Edited in Spanish by Ricardo Figueroa)
