![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-23-at-6.31.21-PM.png\")
Elon Musk with his mother Maye during SNL. Will Heath\/NBC\/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n
- \n
- Dogecoin has dropped more than 75% since the hype peaked around the token when Elon Musk appeared on SNL in May.<\/li>\n
- It was the worst-performing major cryptocurrency on Tuesday, as investors fled the asset.<\/li>\n
- Cryptocurrencies have crashed since May after Musk criticised bitcoin and China cracked down.<\/li>\n
- Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Dogecoin<\/a>\u00a0continued to plunge on Tuesday as cryptocurrencies tumbled in the wake of a fresh crackdown by Chinese authorities.<\/p>\n
The meme cryptocurrency lost 24% over 24 hours to hit $0.17413, according to\u00a0CoinGecko<\/a>. That was around 76% lower than its record high of more than $0.70, reached in May\u00a0amid expectations<\/a>\u00a0that Elon Musk would use his “Saturday Night Live” performance to pump the token.<\/p>\n
The dogecoin market was worth around $94 billion at its peak, but had dropped to roughly $23 billion on Tuesday, according to CoinGecko – a $71 billion loss.<\/p>\n
Dogecoin suffered the heaviest losses of any major cryptocurrency on Tuesday. Yet others didn’t fare much better, with\u00a0binance coin<\/a>\u00a0down around 20% and\u00a0cardano<\/a>\u00a0off by around 17%.\u00a0Bitcoin<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0ether<\/a>, the two biggest cryptocurrencies, dropped but less sharply.<\/p>\n
Cryptocurrencies have fallen dramatically since May after Elon Musk halted payments for Tesla in bitcoin, citing its\u00a0“insane” energy use<\/a>, and China started\u00a0cracking down<\/a>\u00a0on crypto “mining.”<\/p>\n
Yet dogecoin has been hit particularly hard, with the token plummeting back to earth after skyrocketing in the spring.<\/p>\n
Analysts have long warned that dogecoin is a\u00a0case of speculative mania<\/a>, with the price influenced more by celebrity-induced buzz than anything fundamental.<\/p>\n
“In this climate it’s not a surprise that dogecoin, which began its crypto journey as a joke, has suffered one of the steepest declines in recent days,” said Susannah Streeter, senior markets analyst at broker Hargreaves Lansdown.<\/p>\n
Musk was one of the main drivers of the rally in dogecoin. But he hasn’t said anything about doge in a while, and let fans down when he called it\u00a0a hustle<\/a> on SNL.<\/p>\n
“Many expected Elon Musk’s SNL appearance to send the already-soaring dogecoin even higher,” Michael Kamerman, CEO of crypto firm Skilling, said. “It had the opposite effect.”<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, dogecoin remained more than 7,000% higher over the last year on Tuesday, according to CoinGecko.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n