Dogecoin’s record-breaking rise shoots ‘joke’ cryptocurrency to wider attention

Analysts say Elon Musk's turn as host of Saturday Night Live will raise its profile yet further

It is perhaps the ultimate symbol of late capitalism: a digital currency that started as a joke, now worth more than the Ford motor company, BP or Tesco.

Riding a wave of speculative interest despite Covid-19 triggering the worst global recession since the 1930s Great Depression, Dogecoin has been a huge hit with amateur investors. It is a cryptocurrency based on an internet meme - a humorous online phrase or photo, which on this occasion is a dog - and has shot to wider attention with a record-breaking rise in value in recent weeks.