Grumpy Cat’s Ghost Takes Over Crypto as ‘Grumpy’ Coin Surges 1000% in a Day

Rudy TakalaMar 17th, 2021, 8:02 pm
 
Grumpy Cat

Jemal Countess/Getty Image

“Grumpy Cat” emerged as a top force in cryptocurrency on Wednesday after a coin dedicated to her saw its price surge by more than 1000 percent in one day.

Total investment in the “Grumpy Cat” coin jumped to more than $50 million as of late Wednesday afternoon after sitting at less than $5 million earlier in the week. Social media users ecstatic over the meteoric rise shared pictures that included the cat going to Mars with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and refusing to buy its most prominent rival, Dogecoin, which Musk has routinely promoted in recent months.

Dogecoin saw its value jump by more than 30 times over the last year, from about $200 million to more than $7.5 billion this week, bolstered by glowing reviews from Musk and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, whose basketball team began accepting it as part of its business. Cuban said this month that his team had conducted more than 20,000 transactions using the coin — and suggested it would be enough to propel its value from 5 cents to $1, writing on Twitter, “The @dallasmavs have done more than 20,000 #Dogecoin in transactions, making us the LARGEST #DOGECOIN MERCHANT IN THE WORLD ! We thank all of you and can only say that if we sell another 6,556,000,000 #DOGECOIN worth of Mavs merch, #dogecoin will DEFINITELY HIT $1 !!!”

Grumpy Cat, who was also known as “Tardar Sauce,” rose to fame in 2012 for her famously grumpy appearance, which resulted from an underbite and dwarfism. The cat’s career began that year with an appearance on NBC News’ Today show. She spent subsequent years conducting television appearances and touring worldwide, in addition to working as the official “spokescat” for Friskies. She died in 2019.

In addition to serving as the new currency’s figurehead, the cat made headlines over the weekend after a purchaser paid more than $83,000 for a non-fungible token (NFT) that featured her. “Grumpy Cat is a New York Times best selling author, the star of her own Lifetime Christmas movie, and the first cat in history to be honored with a Madame Tussaud’s wax figure,” noted the listing for the token. “Grumpy became a pop cultural icon on September 23, 2012, after her frowning photo was posted to Reddit.”

Organizers associated with the Grumpy Cat currency said some proceeds from the price surge would go to animal aid groups, including $80,000 for the Sterling Animal Shelter in Massachusetts. That organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Mediaite.

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