Many are wondering if Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, together with other altcoins, are disrupting the crypto market. Bitcoin prices started to fall again, around 8%, on Friday, May 28th and plunged around 36% throughout the month of May, their worst monthly performance since September 2011.
Will the cryptocurrency market experience a rebound?
“Sell in May and go away” is an old saying repeated by the financial market for decades. The theory is that stock exchanges perform worse in the following months, only picking up again in October.
Bitcoin investors, and investors in most other cryptocurrencies (like altcoins Dogecoin and Shiba Inu), apparently sold out in May. It’s just not known if they will go away forever. Bitcoin prices were falling Friday, following the pace of the month of May, where the BTC had its worst monthly performance since September 2011.
Which leads us to question, after the dizzying highs of the first trimester, at what point the broth spilled. Perhaps there is no single answer, but a steady stream of bad news that has sent Bitcoin plummeting since hitting its all-time record of over $64,000 in April. Also, there is a lot of hype over altcoins such as Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, which further adds to market volatility.
Cryptocurrencies rise and fall with tweets and buzz over Dogecoin and Shiba Inu
It is impossible not to mention the “little push” of Tesla CEO Elon Musk. After pushing investors to buy cryptocurrency, he said Bitcoin will no longer be accepted at Tesla because of the environment.
Musk wrote on Twitter that “Energy usage trend over past few months is insane”
Energy usage trend over past few months is insane https://t.co/E6o9s87trw pic.twitter.com/bmv9wotwKe
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2021
Musk has since softened his stance somewhat, agreeing, thanks to the insistence of Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy CEO and crypto enthusiast, to meet with heads of several North American-based Bitcoin miners to discuss the issue of BTC sustainability.
The estimated electricity consumption per https://t.co/Lj4SMIkLS8 YTD increased 40% during the same period that the network grew 100% in assets, meaning that energy efficiency dramatically improved during this time period. #Bitcoin is becoming less energy intensive as it scales.
— Michael Saylor (@michael_saylor) May 13, 2021
Michael Saylor replied to Musk: “The estimated electricity consumption per cbeci.org YTD increased 40% during the same period that the network grew 100% in assets, meaning that energy efficiency dramatically improved during this time period. #Bitcoin is becoming less energy intensive as it scales.”
Musk has been posting on his Twitter profile since then about the subject.
“Spoke with North American Bitcoin miners. They committed to publish current & planned renewable usage & to ask miners WW to do so. Potentially promising.”
Spoke with North American Bitcoin miners. They committed to publish current & planned renewable usage & to ask miners WW to do so. Potentially promising.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2021
Threats from all sides to investors (including those who invest in Dogecoin and Shiba Inu)
Even with Musk’s backlash on suspending the use of Bitcoin as payment for Tesla’s vehicles, investors and analysts were irate that all cryptocurrencies had risen and fallen along with Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, in part due to Elon Musk’s mood swings. They are also upset, to say the least, that a comment by Musk could move crypto prices so quickly so radically. This even gave rise to the StopElon movement, seeking to end Musk’s influence on crypto prices.
To make matters worse and make investors even more insecure, China has also stepped up its crackdown on cryptocurrency and the US Treasury Department unveiled new plans to tax bitcoin more heavily, while the Federal Reserve hinted at the possibility of a digital dollar, which could weaken the industry.
In the same vein, HSBC CEO Noel Quinn has stated that he does not believe in the future of cryptos. In an interview with Reuters news agency, he said HSBC bank has no plans to launch a cryptocurrency trading broker.
“Given the volatility we are not into Bitcoin as an asset class, if our clients want to be there then of course they are, but we are not promoting it as an asset class within our wealth management business,” Quinn said.
And he adds: “For similar reasons we’re not rushing into stablecoins,” referring to digital currencies such as Tether that seek to avoid the volatility typically associated with cryptocurrencies by pegging their value to assets such as the U.S. dollar.
This makes us realize that a month of maladjustments was enough for the industry to lose trillions in market value and, consequently, detractors who walked more silently appeared to voice their opinions against cryptocurrency.
Dogecoin and Shiba Inu: Cryptocurrencies or Meme coins?
Much of Musk’s “contributions”, as an individual, to the crypto market are related to memes. He was one of the great drivers, through his tweets, of Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. Dogecoin was created as a joke in 2013 and uses the image of the Shiba Inu dog.
Elon Musk is giving Dogecoin major credibility in the tech finance world – but he says while it’s got potential to be the king of crypto, we recommend investors to be careful about investing in altcoins.
Remember that recently, Elon Musk said about Dogecoin:
Dogecoin is the people’s crypto
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 4, 2021
The price of Dogecoin has been going up and down for months, following Musk’s tweets on the matter. Basically, Musk tweets and DOGE goes up again. Musk is even called the Dogefather, given his support of the currency.
Also, investors will remember that on May 14th, Musk tweeted that he was going to buy a Shiba Inu and SHIB soared.
His tweet did not make it clear whether the billionaire was referring to the purchase of Dogecoin and Shiba Inu or a new dog. However, in less than 24 hours Shiba Inu cryptocurrency soared 107%.
Also on his Twitter profile, Musk did a poll involving Dogecoin: “Do you want Tesla to accept Doge?”
So far, the poll has received 3,922,516 votes, of which 78% voted “YES”.
Do you want Tesla to accept Doge?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2021
Dogecoin even has a song, called “To the Moon”, with over 1 million views on YouTube, and also available on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.
Musk apparently liked the Dogecoin “To the Moon” song, having shared it in a tweet:
SpaceX launching satellite Doge-1 to the moon next year
– Mission paid for in Doge
– 1st crypto in space
– 1st meme in spaceTo the mooooonnn!!https://t.co/xXfjGZVeUW
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2021
Investors and fans of cryptocurrencies went on twitter to ask Musk to “stop tweeting”. Many investors, including those that are profiting on Dogecoin and Shiba Inu recent hype, are still amazed by the influence and impact that the billionaire has on the cryptocurrency market with just a few tweets.