According to CoinDesk, dog-themed meme tokens Dogecoin (DOGE) and Floki (FLOKI) experienced a rise of up to 12% before retreating, following an @xpayments profile on social app X that sparked adoption hopes among crypto enthusiasts. Trading volumes for both tokens increased by 200% over the weekend, as per CoinGecko data, even though broader crypto volumes remained relatively lower due to minimal volatility. Additionally, futures tracking the tokens saw open interest rise to a cumulative $430 million from $200 million, indicating increased bets.
DOGE has a history of surging on payments-related developments at any Elon Musk-owned companies, such as X or Tesla. Floki, named after Musk's dog, acts as a beta bet among midcap traders. Simon Schaber, CBDO of Spool DAO, explained to CoinDesk in a Telegram message last July that advertisers could potentially pay DOGE for ads and other uses on Twitter. Schaber added that speculation could be around Musk's businesses and stakeholdings starting to accept crypto, as Tesla does.
The @xpayments account has already gained over 100,000 followers since its late Friday setup. Earlier in January, X announced in a blog post that it would launch peer-to-peer payments capability on the application this year, and Musk has previously stated it could feature cryptocurrencies. There has been no official communication on whether DOGE will be a payment option, compared to bitcoin (BTC) or ether (ETH), but such speculations are not entirely unfounded. In April 2023, Musk teased DOGE payments on Twitter in a tweet, proposing dogecoin as one of the payment options for Twitter Blue, the site's subscription service with premium features. Musk's electric car company, Tesla, already accepts DOGE payments for merchandise purchases in the Tesla Store.
