This dogecoin chart offers the clearest explanation for the buzz surrounding the ‘joke’ crypto

The numbers tell the clearest story, dogecoin hit a record value of 45.04 cents on Friday on CoinDesk, with a 24-hour trading volume of $69,485,678,473, according to CoinMarketCap.  

Dogecoin DOGEUSD, -26.31% has soared 170% in the past day and has rocketed more than 7,252% so far this year, taking its market value to well over $40 billion, minting a number of millionaires on paper, eager to show off their newfound windfall in social media and announce their commitment to “hodl” until the end.

It is a stunning move for an crypto engineered as a joke back in 2013, and now championed by billionaire Mark Cuban, who now accepts doge as payment for tickets to his NBA franchise, and Tesla Inc. TSLA, +0.13% CEO Elon Musk, who has used his Twitter account to openly push the price of doge higher, drawing criticism from some Wall Street investors.

By comparison, bitcoin is down less than 1% over the past day and stands at $61,796 Friday afternoon. It is up a comparatively mundane 112% in 2021 thus far.

Traditional assets have seen downright pedestrian gains compared to the crypto offerings, albeit with far less volatility.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.48% and the S&P 500 SPX, +0.36% are up over 11%, so far this year and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.10% has risen 8.8% over the same period. Gold futures GC00, +0.59%, meanwhile, are down over 6% in the year to date.

The catalyst for gains for crypto are hard to peg but the moves have seen a renewed burst after the listing on Nasdaq of crypto platform Coinbase Global COIN, +5.96% on Wednesday, a watershed moment for the digital asset complex.

Many are still warning that dogecoin is reflecting euphoria bubbling up in the market and caution that new investors could be greatly harmed by jumping into dogecoin and other crypto with both feet.