Why Did Dogecoin Spike? Meme Cryptocurrency's Fans Rejoice As Token Hits All-time High

Dogecoin has hit an all-time high in price, prompting fans of the token to celebrate online.

At around 3 a.m. ET Wednesday, Dogecoin was up more than 85 percent over the past 24 hours and 110 percent over the last week. It has hit a high of $0.1425 over the past day.

Once considered a meme cryptocurrency traded just for fun, the total value of all Dogecoin in circulation is now around $17.3 billion.

By this metric, it is the tenth most valuable cryptocurrency in the world, ahead of more "serious" tokens such as Bitcoin Cash or Filecoin, according to price tracker CoinMarketCap.

Fans and investors took to Twitter to post memes about the recent surge.

Dogecoin surge may be linked to news that Kronos, a Californian air purification technology firm, purchased 600 million Dogecoin Cash in a cryptocurrency swap.

Dogecoin Cash is not the same as Dogecoin, but the two cryptocurrencies are linked. Dogecoin Cash describes itself as a "community-driven project created by a group of passionate Dogecoin enthusiasts."

Kronos president Michael Rubinov said: "With the growing excitement around Dogecoin Cash, Kronos aggressively accepting Dogecoin as payment, and our popular limited edition air purifier rebranded as AirDOGE, we felt that swapping into Dogecoin Cash was a natural fit."

Meanwhile, Dogecoin is surging amid a wave of support for cryptocurrency as a whole, as trading platform Coinbase is set to make its stock market debut on the Nasdaq exchange on Wednesday.

Coinbase has had a very successful year so far, last week reporting a revenue increase of 847 percent to $1.8 billion in the first quarter.

It is unclear what time Coinbase will go live, but it is set to be listed under the ticker symbol COIN. It has been given a reference price of $250.

Coinbase will not hold an IPO—essentially a fundraising event in which new shares are created at a price set by investment bankers and sold to the public.

Instead, Coinbase will be a direct listing—the Nasdaq's first major one, according to Marketwatch—meaning only existing shares are sold.

In recent times, Dogecoin has enjoyed surges in price following support by influential figures and celebrities such as SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk as well as Kiss frontman Gene Simmons.

Dogecoin was created in 2013 as a joke based on the popular meme featuring a Shiba Inu dog. It has retained a loyal following since then.

Co-founder Billy Markus told Newsweek last month: "[Dogecoin] was made in about three hours, with the bulk of that time customizing the look of the client. If I couldn't make it use the Comic Sans font, I wouldn't have released it!"