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The Elon Musk memecoin effect has proven that markets are more irrational than we think. Back in 2021, the Tesla founder was particularly fond of toying with the digital asset market, especially Dogecoin, which remains one of his favorite cryptocurrencies to date. While Elon no longer moves prices as he did during the 2020/2021 bull market, it is arguable that he has become a very influential figure in the modern-day investment space, where internet jokes can easily form the basis of a profitable investment. Elon Musk and the Memecoin Surge: From DOGE to LADYS A meme is a humorous concept or idea that is shared through the internet and goes viral, thanks to the speed of information in today’s digital world. Similarly, memecoins are associated with some form of humor. For instance, DOGE coin was launched in 2013 as a light hearted parody of Bitcoin; the idea was based on the popular ‘DOGE’ meme, featuring a Shiba Inu dog with captions written in broken English. Fast forward to 2024, there are over 300 memecoins in existence, accounting for a daily trading volume of $6.9 billion as per the latest data from Coingecko. The distinguishing success factor amongst all these? Elon’s nod. Apart from DOGE, Musk’s tweets have propelled other notable memecoins such as LADYS which is up over 11,000% from its all-time low on May 10 2023 when Elon tweeted out a picture from the Milady Maker NFT collection with the caption “There is no meme, I love you.” While the LADYS memecoin is not affiliated to the Milady Maker project, its rise to fame is a classic example of Elon’s contagious memecoin effect. The billionaire’s subtle jokes on twitter have often had a wider impact, with more projects being carried by the wave. This was also the case in 2021 when DOGE coin tweets influenced the price of other dog memecoins like FLOKI and Shiba Inu. That said, let’s take a step back to highlight some of the notable events where Elon Musk’s comments or tweets had a significant impact on DOGE: On December 20, 2020; Musk tweeted a simple phrase “One word: Doge”. This marked the beginning of his memecoin effect with the price of DOGE surging by around 20% shortly after the tweet. On January 28, 2021; The now X owner shared another tweet "Dogecoin is the people’s crypto" which sent prices up by more than 50% in a matter of hours. On February 2, 2021: Elon tweeted a meme of himself holding up the Dogecoin symbol, pushing the value of one DOGE from $0.04 to $0.06. On April 1, 2021: Musk tweeted about his space exploration company SpaceX, stating, "SpaceX is going to put a literal Dogecoin on the literal moon." The tweet caused Dogecoin to jump by about 30%, from $0.05 to around $0.065. May 8, 2021: "Saturday Night Live" Appearance: Musk hosted "Saturday Night Live" (SNL) and mentioned Dogecoin several times during the show. In the lead-up to the appearance, Dogecoin's price surged, reaching an all-time high of around $0.74. October 2022: Twitter Logo Change to Doge: Twitter's logo was temporarily changed to the Dogecoin mascot, the Shiba Inu dog. This led to a significant price spike of over 30%. These events are just a few examples of the Musk memecoin effect. There are more instances where he has mentioned Dogecoin or hinted at other memecoins, as was the case with LADYS, resulting in a price surge of those particular digital assets. More Than Just a Mention… While Elon’s ‘endorsement’ has often been interpreted as an automatic price boost, it does not end there. Projects that have received his ‘blessing’ have gone from a whimsical meme to something much more substantial, leading the market in many respects. DOGE coin, for example, was recently added as a payment method by Tesla. This is quite a milestone given that it is the only cryptocurrency that has been integrated by the electronic vehicle car maker. It is worth noting that Tesla had earlier on included BTC as one of its payment options but later dropped it due to emission concerns, "Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin. We are concerned about the rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel." read the announcement. On the other hand, a memecoin like LADYS recently secured a $5 million investment from DWF Labs and is now building a new era of memetic magic. According to the project’s vision, the goal is to infuse a lively, engaging environment where the community thrives on playful interactions. In future, LADYS also intends to launch an optimistic L2 chain that will further enhance on-chain activity beyond its memecoin. Conclusion As mentioned in the introduction, markets no longer operate on the principle of rationality. Focus has now shifted from assets that could grow in value over time to speculative gambles driven by the meme culture. This is not unique to the crypto market; in tradfi, we also witnessed the Gamestop ($GME) short squeeze which to some extent mimicked the meme craze. But what stood out was the fact that traditional financial institutions could only do so much to counter retail traders who were buying the stock enmasse despite Gamestop’s shaky financials. In an era where it pays to be irrational, memecoins will continue to stay solvent, and probably be included in more futuristic investment portfolio models.