coindesk.com
The dogecoin ($DOGE) price surged to its highest level since December 2021 on Thursday, with trading volumes and futures open interest rising significantly.
Several posts from prominent Dogecoin community members on X speculated about the token's implementation on the platform, especially in relation to a new payment branch being awarded more licenses in the U.S.
Dogecoin ($DOGE) surged to its highest since December 2021 on Thursday amid bullish sentiment and speculation about the use of the dog-themed meme coin on the social-media platform X.
$DOGE exchanged hands at 22 cents in European afternoon hours, a 17% gain over 24 hours. The broader market was little changed, with bitcoin (BTC) steady at around the $70,000 level and the broad-based majors index CoinDesk 20 showing no change.
The token tends to react to payments-related developments at any Elon Musk-owned company, such as X or Tesla, and several social-media posts from prominent Dogecoin community members speculated about the token’s usage on X, likely fueling trading interest.
“Dear #Dogecoin, with X's new payment branch being awarded more licenses in the U.S., many are speculating about the implementation of crypto payments in the platform,” Dogecoin developer @@mishaboar said in an X post Thursday. “Early this month, Elon said X is very close to landing a money transmitter license in California. Getting the license in NY will still take a few months,” he added.
CoinGecko data shows that trading volume for $DOGE shot up to $7 billion in the past 24 hours from an average of $3 billion earlier in the week, even as broader crypto volumes remained lower amid little volatility.
Elsewhere, futures tracking the tokens saw open interest rise to nearly $2 billion across crypto exchanges from $1 billion on Monday, indicative of rising bets on price volatility.
Speculation about the token’s usage on X has been around since Musk bought the company in 2021, given his endorsement of the token. Musk’s electric car company, Tesla, has accepted $DOGE payments for merchandise purchases in the Tesla Store since 2021.
X said in January it planned to launch a peer-to-peer payments service this year. However, there has been no official communication on whether $DOGE will be a payment option.