Large transactions of the meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin ($DOGE) have jumped by 148% shortly after the CEO of electric car maker Tesla, Elon Musk, announced the firm was going to accept DOGE payments for merch.

As first reported by Benzinga, data from Into The Block shows Dogecoin saw a 148% increase in “large transactions,” defined as transactions on the blockchain whose value exceeds $100,000. The transactions started surging shortly after the price of DOGE jumped based on Musk’s announcement.

Benzinga’s report also notes that market participants quickly shared positive sentiment on social media on the cryptocurrency, helping DOGE’s social dominance across platforms move up 54% over the last 24-hour period.

Dogecoin whales may also be moving funds based on a recent announcement made by a DOGE developer that revealed they managed to create the first non-fungible token (NFT) on the Dogecoin blockchain and posted the transaction in which he minted it.

The developer pointed out that on the Dogecoin blockchain the cost to mint the NFT was only 0.01 DOGE, which equals less than one cent at the time of writing. The developer described the minting process, saying he used SHA-256 hash functions to mint the NFT and store it on a Checksum.

As CryptoGlobe reported, search interest for Dogecoin exploded during the cryptocurrency’s massive 10,000% price rally earlier this year, going from an average of 135,000 monthly searches in April 2020 to 16.5 million in April 2021.

Dogecoin was created back in 2013 as a joke. The cryptocurrency’s community is well-known for taking on philanthropic projects, which included helping charitable organizations. It made headlines in 2014 after raising more than $25,000 worth of DOGE to let the Jamaican bobsleigh team attend the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

This week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk also revealed he believes Dogecoin is better for transactions than other cryptoassets like Bitcoin. The CEO has also revealed Tesla is set to start accepting Dogecoin payments for merch.

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