‘Doge is underrated’ – ‘Fav’ Bitcoin Rival Dogecoin by Elon Musk is getting a surprise upgrade

Dogecoin, the meme-based cryptocurrency that was called a “joke” by its creator, has exploded in popularity in recent weeks.

The price of dogecoin has gone up thanks to the attention of billionaires, rockstars and YouTubers – with Tesla

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Chief Executive Elon Musk, who was already elected “dogecoin CEO” and called it his “favorite” cryptocurrency, this week tweeting: “Dogecoin is underestimated.”

Now, with the price of dogecoin rising 600% since the end of January, developers who have long since abandoned memecoin are back and plan to update the old software.

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“When it took off, there was a resurgence of attention and we want to keep the currency operational,” said the main maintainer of dogecoin, Ross Nicoll, to the bitcoin and cryptocurrency news channel Coindesk.

Created in 2013, Dogecoin saw its last major update in June 2019 and now Nicoll, along with four other developers, wants to launch another major release to address dogecoin’s scalability and security issues within a year.

“We will always prioritize security. I will not say that [development] it won’t be slow again, but we will always be there looking for security issues to make sure the software is kept up to date, “said Nicoll.

Dogecoin skyrocketed in late January, when retailers organized themselves through Reddit’s chat groups WallStreetBets and Telegram, frustrated with GameStop

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trade restrictions, stacked in cryptocurrencies. The price of dogecoin has dropped from its peak of just over $ 0.8, but it often remains where it started in 2021.

However, Internet savvy artists continued to talk to the bitcoin’s ironic rival – in the hope of pushing it even higher.

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“Doge is bitcoin’s younger brother. They have the same potential. It’s still early,” said YouTuber Jake Paul via Twitter.

“Neil Armstrong landed on the moon first and now Doge is next. I’m holding on,” Paul added, tweeting fellow YouTuber Ben Phillips, who has been trying to raise the price of dogecoin in recent weeks – predicting it will reach $ 2 “in the coming months”.

Meanwhile, the price of bitcoin has continued to rise, reaching a record high of over $ 49,000 per bitcoin this weekend, while Wall Street finally moves to embrace cryptocurrencies and Elon Musk’s Tesla revealed that it bought $ 1 , 5 billion in bitcoin.

“The increase in the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, including dogecoin – which was also driven by an endorsement by Musk on Twitter – occurs as digital currencies become popular due to the growing interest of institutional and retail investors, increasing levels of mass adoption, and how global interest rates remain at historic lows, “said Nigel Green, chief executive of the financial advisory group deVere, in e-mail comments.