Tech entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk caused a surge in the crypto market simply by sharing a picture of his new puppy with a peculiar name.
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk shared a photo of his Shiba Inu puppy Floki to his 59.9million followers on Twitter.
He captioned the picture, “Floki has arrived” and showed the Shiba puppy sleeping on the ground. This seemingly innocent picture led to a significant shift in the global cryptocurrency market. There was a 150% increase in little-known cryptos with similar names.
One of the currencies, Floki Inu has reached a record high peak since Musk posted that image about his new dog, Mirror reports.
(Image: Elon Musk/Twitter)
Although these obscure currencies aren’t usually lucrative, the ripple effect also extended to more familiar cryptocurrencies, such as Dogecoin and Baby Dodge Coin.
Native to Japan, the Shiba Inu breed are small-to-medium-sized, have tendencies to be independent, are tricky to train and are devotees of self-grooming – they arguably share more traits with cats than dogs.
According to the American Kennel Club, they’re an ancient breed that dates back to 7000BC and originally used for hunting.
While ‘inu’ literally translates as dog, the meaning of ‘shiba’ remains a mystery, but they do have tendencies to be independent, tricky to train and devotees of self-grooming, so arguably share more traits with cats than dogs.
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But this isn’t the first time the SpaceX founder’s influence on social media has impacted crypto markets, as many people look to him for financial inspiration globally.
One message on social media often has a significant impact on bitcoin-sphere, both positive and negative.