There seems to be no stopping the DOGE run.
The cryptocurrency created as a joke in 2013 rose to a new record high around $0.43 early Monday, extending the previous week's 340% rally, according to data source Messari.
The meme cryptocurrency briefly replaced the payments-focused XRP as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization when prices hit the new high. At that time, its market capitalization stood at over $54 billion, according to data source Messari.
At press time, dogecoin was changing hands at $0.3920, with a market value around $50 billion. XRP's market value stands at $53.4 billion, at the current price of $1.41. Bitcoin remains the top cryptocurrency, with a market capitalization of $1.05 trillion.
DOGE's recent rally has raised price expectations for the rest of the year. According to the betting website us-bookies.com, oddsmakers now see a 17% probability of dogecoin rallying to $1 by the year-end, versus 2.9% at the start of the month.
Some posters on Twitter are referring to Tuesday, April 20, as "Dogeday." The date, which is celebrated annually as an unofficial holiday by many cannabis smokers, is also associated with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has tweeted favorably about dogecoin. Just last week, the billionaire entrepreneur tweeted an image, "Doge Barking at the Moon."
"Many dogecoiners are predicting the coin to hit 69 cents on 4/20, you know, because the whole currency is a giant meme," as Gizmodo Australia put it.
However, some observers fear the ongoing price rally is a bubble, which can burst easily as the cryptocurrency's ownership is concentrated in few hands.
Sixty-five percent "of all dogecoins are kept in just 98 wallets across the world," cryptocurrency risk management platform TRM Labs's Akand Sitra said in a LinkedIn post. "The single largest wallet has 28% of all dogecoins, and five wallets control 40% of the entire dogecoin supply."
Sitra added that whales – a term for investors with large holdings – would hold onto dogecoin till there is enough traction in the market and eventually dump all coins, becoming instant billionaires.