Irish senior manager at Goldman Sachs quits after making millions in Dogecoin.

According to the IrishTimes report, an Irish senior manager at Goldman Sachs in London has quit the US investment bank after making millions from investing in Dogecoin. This meme-based cryptocurrency has risen by more than 1,000 percent in value this year. City sources said Aziz McMahon, a managing director and head of emerging market sales, had resigned from the bank after making money from investing in the cryptocurrency based on the Doge internet meme.

Dogecoin surges over 1,000% this year.

Dogecoin’s supporters include the Tesla founder, Elon Musk, the rapper Snoop Dogg and the Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, the digital asset similar to bitcoin has soared in value over recent months. Dogecoin rose above $0.72 against the dollar last week in anticipation of Elon Musk’s appearance on the hit US TV show Saturday Night Live. However, it has plunged by more than 30 percent this week since Elon Musk’s performance on SNL. Dogecoin is still up by more than 1,000% from the start of 2021.

Dogecoin started as a joke parodying bitcoin.

Created in 2013 by two software engineers from IBM and Adobe, the Dogecoin digital currency started as a joke parodying bitcoin. However, the cryptocurrency has rocketed in value amid a wave of speculative investment in crypto assets, fuelled by a buzz online and an aim to perpetuate the joke by pumping up its value. Some early buyers of the cryptocurrency are believed to have amassed small fortunes as the value of Dogecoin soars, including one anonymous owner with a stake thought to be worth more than $2 billion. Goldman Sachs opened a bitcoin trading desk last week in a move to reverse a 2018 decision to stay out of the market.