Mysterious dogecoin whale sees holdings value plummet by 67% from peak, to $8 billion, amid crypto meltdown

• A far-reaching crypto meltdown has led to a 70% decline in dogecoin since its peak in early May.
• A mysterious whale owns about 28% of the dogecoin supply.
• The value of its holdings had plummeted to $8.2 billion as of Monday from $24 billion in May.
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The mysterious dogecoin whale that owns more than 28% of the circulating supply of the cryptocurrency has seen the value of its holdings decline by 67% from its peak, to $8.2 billion on Monday.

The whale's address owns nearly 37 billion dogecoins, which were worth more than $24 billion in early May. But a far-reaching crypto meltdown has led to a steep decline in the value of the meme-inspired cryptocurrency in recent weeks.

Enthusiasm around dogecoin peaked at about the same time Tesla CEO Elon Musk hosted "Saturday Night Live" and referred to dogecoin in a skit, as many crypto traders had expected. But since then, little has been able to stimulate demand for the cryptocurrency, and 5 billion dogecoins come into existence every year.

The dogecoin whale has not shed holdings since the cryptocurrency peaked at $0.74 last month. In fact, the address has consistently added dogecoin in small increments. On Monday, the address added one dogecoin to its wallet. That followed additions of various "meme" amounts, including 4.20 dogecoins on June 10 and 6.9 dogecoins on June 9.

One crypto expert has said the dogecoin whale is most likely a cryptocurrency exchange. There has also been speculation that Robinhood is behind the dogecoin address.

Despite the decline in dogecoin, many still see potential for the cryptocurrency to hold utility as a viable form of payment. Several businesses now accept dogecoin, including the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and MLB's Oakland Athletics.

Several people have recently responded to Musk's call to improve dogecoin as a payment. Charles Hoskinson, the creator of Cardano, said that, if improved, dogecoin could have potential for real-world use.

"Dogecoin is a reasonable target for someone to fix it up and make it an interesting cryptocurrency," Hoskinson said in a podcast on Friday. "My hope is that a compromise can be made where real developers come in and they start working on doge to create some use and utility for it, so at least it has a value floor and won't collapse."

While the volatility in dogecoin is likely to continue, so too is the resilience of the mysterious dogecoin whale. Despite the 70% decline in dogecoin since its peak, the cryptocurrency is up 4,508% year-to-date.