Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk has once again endorsed Dogecoin— a ‘meme’ cryptocurrency, over Ethereum saying that DOGE can be used to make Decentralised Finance (DeFi) more accessible to everyone.
DeFi systems, is a blockchain-based form of finance that does not rely on financial intermediaries such as brokerages, exchanges, or any banks to offer services. Such platforms allow users to keep custody of their Ethereum-based crypto assets.
Musk was responding to a CoinDesk story on Twitter, about how Ethereum based DeFi protocol are becoming inaccessible to small investors due to high transaction fees. Musk tweeted a one-word reply under this story, “Dooooge”, referring to his favourite cryptocurrency, the Dogecoin.
The average transaction fee or “gas fee” on Ethereum is soaring at $51.45, according to data from crypto metrics site BitInfoCharts. While the “gas fee” of the Dogecoin remains largely low, hovering around an average of $0.65 (roughly Rs 50) per transaction. This is one of the reasons why Musk, earlier in October, called Dogecoin “the people’s crypto”.
Musk, who is a staunch supporter of cryptocurrency, also wants crypto holders to take custody of their ‘keys’, and not rely upon cryptocurrency exchanges such as Robinhood or Binance.
Meanwhile, earlier, this week, cryptocurrency exchange Binance resumed Dogecoin (DOGE) withdrawals, after Elon Musk on Twitter, raised concerns on behalf of Dogecoin holders regarding the recent DOGE problem at cryptocurrency exchange Binance
Dogecoin was created in 2013 by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer as a faster but “fun” alternative to Bitcoin. It was started as a satire on the numerous fraud crypto coins that had sprung up at the time, and takes its name and logo from a Shiba Inu meme that was viral several years ago.
Musk, who frequently tweets have added to the digital token’s mania. Musk had once changed his Twitter bio to “Former CEO of Dogecoin.” At the time of writing, DOGE is the 10th-largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $27 billion, according to CoinMarketcap.
