It also states Dogecoin—a type of cryptocurrency initially launched as a joke—is “fast, cheap, and stable,” though arguably the token has become far less stable in recent days, its price having jumped in value from around $0.07 to over $0.40 last week. It then dropped below the $0.30 mark over the weekend before recovering slightly.
It is unclear if any one reason can explain why the petition has been gaining traction in recent weeks. On Sunday a link to the petition was posted to the very active Dogecoin community on Reddit, where it gained 1,100 upvotes.
Once a niche technology, cryptocurrency is increasingly becoming accepted as a payment method as it becomes more popular.
In March, payment company Visa announced it had launched a pilot program allowing users to settle transactions on its network using the cryptocurrency USD Coin, citing “increasing demand.”
USD Coin’s price is tied to the price of the U.S. dollar, and is known as a “stablecoin.” Cryptocurrencies have more widely been infamous for their price volatility.
With the update, Visa allowed users to pay for products, like a coffee, using USD Coin without the need to convert it to traditional currency first, as was the case with the Crypto.com Visa card.
In addition, Tesla CEO Elon Musk—who frequently speaks out in support of Dogecoin—announced that same month that the electric car company had begun accepting Bitcoin as payment. He tweeted: “You can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin.”
