Dogecoin may be a hustle, but it’s the people’s hustle

Parody of bitcoin: Cryptocurrency representations are seen in front of the dogecoin logo. — Reuters

“YEAH, it’s a hustle.” And with that, Elon Musk as host of Saturday Night Live (SNL) brought down the value of dogecoin by 35% and cemented it firmly in the minds of millions more retail investors, forcing us all to wait and see whether such pessimism will be their final verdict.

That’s because doge isn’t just any financial asset, and Musk wasn’t just any host. He’s now the biggest booster of the world’s fifth-most valuable cryptocurrency, having talked up the coin over the past few months, including the announcement Sunday that it’ll be used to pay for a new moon mission launched by his SpaceX rocket company next year.