What is SafeMoon? New cryptocurrency explained, and could it rival Dogecoin in popularity?

SafeMoon – the new cryptocurrency taking the market by storm – continues to soar in popularity since its April launch.

After an initial sharp share price increase of 910%, the digital token’s value has risen to $0.000006 in the last 24 hours (7 May 2021).

It is the latest cryptocurrency to have seen a spike in interest since the turn of the year, following on from the success of Dogecoin, Bitcoin and Ripple XRP in recent weeks.

What is SafeMoon?

Due to its newness on the market, little is known about the US-based SafeMoon.

Its website carries the slogan ‘Safely to the Moon’ - a play on the phrase first mooted by WallStreetBets on Reddit in an attempt to hype up the price of Dogecoin.

How does SafeMoon work?

Unlike other cryptocurrencies, SafeMoon claims it will reward people who buy its token and hold on to it rather than trade - for which there are penalties in place.

It will impose a 10 percent penalty tax fee on sellers and redistribute five percent of this tax to other people who already own the cryptocurrency.

Could SafeMoon rival Dogecoin?

The growth of SafeMoon, coupled with its online slogan, has drawn comparisons to the surge in popularity of another cryptocurrency Dogecoin.

Dogecoin, founded in 2012 as a joke, has drawn widespread attention from high-profile personalities such as billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and rapper Snoop Dogg.

Dogecoin, at the time of writing, has a market price of close to $0.40 according to CoinDesk - the result of an 8,092% increase in value since the start of 2021.

Time will tell.