Mark Cuban talks Dogecoin on Ellen

After explaining her interest in real estate investment, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres said she was now interested in Dogecoin. She then asked her April 27 guest Mark Cuban to explain Dogecoin to her viewers.

“It’s the craziest story ever,” Cuban begins. He then explains Dogecoin’s origins as a joke cryptocurrency, based on a popular meme in 2013. Cuban says that roughly two years ago people started buying it. In the past six months, he explains this has skyrocketed to millions of people, which has also been reflected in its price.

Cuban remarks that “it’s a great way to learn and start understanding cryptocurrencies.” He highlighted this by explaining that he began buying Dogecoin with his son when it was valued at less than a penny. “Then it went up to six cents, he bought a little bit more,” Cuban continues. 

As Dogecoin is still relatively cheap, Cuban says that spending $5, $10, $15 doesn’t pose a significant risk for investors. He adds that it’s a better investment than buying a lottery ticket. “And you know what? It could go up,” he exclaims. “And the second part about it is if it doesn’t go up and you want to spend it, you can buy merchandise on the Mavericks store.” 

The billionaire investor owns the Dallas Mavericks NBA team. They have been accepting payments for merchandise in cryptocurrencies for several years, and in Dogecoin since March. Earlier, Cuban tweeted that the Mavericks webshop became the world’s largest Dogecoin merchant after processing transactions over 20,000 DOGE.

The Dogefather

Although the reference on the show probably introduced Dogecoin to millions of new viewers, another more recent reference probably had a more direct influence on its price. At 8:20 CET on April 28, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted “The Dogefather SNL May 8.”

This coincided with a spike in Dogecoin’s price, suggesting that investors are FOMO’ing back in.

After featuring NFTs in a parody of an Eminem song, Musk’s tweet suggests there will be another reference to cryptocurrencies on Saturday Night Live, which he will host on May 8. Dogecoin has gone from trading under a penny to an all-time high of over $0.40 in the span of just four months.