Over the past few weeks, Dogecoin (DOGE) has exhibited a massive surge, significantly outperforming Bitcoin (BTC) and other major altcoins. The memecoin has soared by 170% in the last two weeks, an astounding 250% over the past five weeks, and 95% in just the last five days. This meteoric rise has positioned Dogecoin as one of the top-performing digital assets in the current market landscape.

Why Is Dogecoin Outperforming Bitcoin?

Michael P. Regan, the global team leader for cryptocurrencies at Bloomberg and a former senior markets editor, shed light on this phenomenon during an interview with Bloomberg Crypto. Addressing skepticism from traditional investors regarding Dogecoin’s fundamentals, Regan acknowledged the coin’s unexpected resilience.

“Dogecoin, I think, has surprised everybody with its staying power,” Regan stated. “When you talk about the fundamental values, that gets kind of, you know, sort of a philosophical discussion when it comes to crypto. But one thing about Dogecoin that’s really interesting is it is actually very cheap to transact with, much cheaper than Bitcoin.”

Regan highlighted practical use cases that contribute to Dogecoin’s value proposition. “We’ve had stories—you do actually find people using it for remittances, you know, people sending money back home to Venezuela to their parents. It’s a lot cheaper to do that with Dogecoin than most other cryptocurrencies,” he explained.

Additionally, he mentioned the growing acceptance of Dogecoin in everyday transactions: “There’s even people developing payments apps. You know, there’s a pizza place, Williamsburg Pizza in New York, that accepts Dogecoin.”

Despite its origin as a joke, Regan believes there’s more to Dogecoin than meets the eye. “It started as a joke. You know, it still makes me laugh to think about it, but there is something there that’s a little bit sort of more serious than most people realize, I think,” he concluded.

The Elon Musk Effect

When asked about the influence of Elon Musk on Dogecoin’s recent rally, Regan didn’t mince words. “This rally we’ve seen, I think, is almost, you know, completely tied to Elon Musk,” he asserted. Musk, a well-known advocate for Dogecoin, has a history of impacting its price through his public statements and social media activity.

“Elon Musk has been a huge champion of Dogecoin lately. I think, you know, just for the memes—the guy likes funny memes on the Internet. Dogecoin is sort of the, you know, meme coin of choice on X and Twitter before that,” Regan remarked.

He emphasized the speculative nature of the memecoin and Musk’s significant role within it. “It’s hard to know exactly, you know, if that’s as far as Musk’s appreciation for it goes. But regardless, you know, crypto is all about speculation. He likes it,” Regan said.

Highlighting the impact of Musk’s involvement, Regan concluded, “It’s up almost 200% since the election,” referring to the hype which the establishment of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) created.

At press time, DOGE traded at $0.38698.