Ten years ago, if someone had said to me the sentence: “I hope that Elon Musk mentions Dogecoin on Saturday Night Live this weekend,” I would be incredibly confused. Actually, someone said that to me the other day and I was still confused. What does the CEO of Tesla have to do with a late night comedy show? Barring that, what on earth is a Dogecoin?
That latter question might be a little bit easier to answer than the former. Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency developed in 2013 that has recently experienced tremendous rallies in the crypto-trading world following the support of several high profile celebrities including: Snoop Dogg, Mark Cuban, and most famously: Elon Musk. The cryptocurrency is considered a ‘meme’ and is known for its Shiba Inu dog face. However, since January 2021, the price of the cryptocurrency has skyrocketed more than 13,000 percent— reaching all time highs of…. ummm…. $0.69 a share? That may not sound like a lot but to put that into perspective, if you had invested $1000 in Doge on January 1, 2021 (when the price was less than one cent a coin), you would’ve made more than $103,000 by May— when the currency began to skyrocket. And all that money is made while the coin still sits at less than a dollar a share— no wonder people are beginning to take notice.
However, this latest crypto-climb can be attributed to Elon Musk’s upcoming Saturday Night Live episode, and many investors are hoping that Elon will use the show to promote the cryptocurrency, possibly sending Dogecoin to the moon— or at least to the dollar mark. Indeed, since announcing his episode, Elon has been quick to rally investors behind the coin and behind the show, and has seemingly all but promised to mention the cryptocurrency. Last month, Musk announced his hosting spot with the cryptic tweet: “The Dogefather SNL May 8.” And since then, the coin has seen tremendous spikes in its price— leading to much speculation about this Saturday’s SNL episode.
So, why could this Saturday be a big deal for Doge? Well the way that cryptocurrency works is that as more people know about it, more people buy into it. And as more people buy into it, the price inevitably goes up. SNL is currently in its 46th season, and is one of the staples of late night television. It is currently ranked as the number one U.S. comedy show in terms of viewers, with 4.1% of the American population between the ages of 18-49 tuning in, according to Coindesk.com. Thus, even the slightest mention of the digital asset could lead to significant mainstream exposure, and could lead to another tremendous market rally for the coin. Therefore, armchair investors are tuning into the hype, and likely tuning into the comedy show this Saturday as well. For many, Saturday could make or break Doge. And the only person who can really decide the fate of this cryptocurrency is Elon Musk himself.
Barring all the hype, it feels important to mention how incredibly weird all of this is. It is very easy to get lost in the noise and commotion and totally forget the immense absurdity of everything. Twenty years ago, investment banking was something that involved men in suits and ties, Charles Schwab brokers, and Wall Street. Now, it involves a late night comedy show, a joke internet currency, and a bunch of 18 year olds with an iPhone and a Robinhood account. Even if Elon fails to rally the cryptocurrency this weekend one thing is for certain—- the world of investment banking is changing underneath our feet. Lets just hope that we can all keep our balance.
