Dogecoin (DOGE) has gained 11% since billionaire Elon Musk said on twitter recently that he would continue to support and buy the cryptocurrency.
In the past 24 hours to US$0.05788 on Monday, according to CoinMarketCap data, the memecoin went up to more than 12%.
After the broader bear market in crypto and a lawsuit against Musk, Dogecoin had plummeted to as low as US$0.04972 in the past seven days.
Musk’s statement comes days after a complaint seeking a class action lawsuit was filed against the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX for manipulating the Dogecoin price.
The complaint seeks a total of US$86 billion in compensatory damages and US$172 billion in treble damages from Musk and Tesla and SpaceX, accusing them for being engaged in a “Crypto Pyramid Scheme” by inflating the price of something with no fundamental value.
According to the lawsuit, Musk’s public statements have a direct effect on DOGE and that for three years, he “engaged in and profited from the manipulation of the price of Bitcoin.”
Musk has been an influential advocate of Dogecoin since 2019, since he began tweeting about the meme-based digital tokens and later allowing the tokens to be used to purchase Tesla merchandise, which later correlated with a price surge.
The relationship, however, hasn’t been all bull markets and growth, Musk jokingly called the coin a “hustle” in a skit for the show Saturday Night Alive in May 2021, triggering a 40% crash.
Musk had been silent recently about Dogecoin on Twitter. However his joining of the Twitter board also correlated with a rally in DOGE prices in April, with Musk offering to buy the entire social media company.