The price of cryptocurrency Dogecoin is surging amid a frenzied interest in cryptocurrency.

Its value was up 80 per cent over the last 24 hours, meaning that the cryptocurrency as a whole is worth almost $17 billion, according to tracking website Coindesk.

Dogecoin has received particular interest in recent months, in large part because it has become a favourite of Elon Musk.

He has said that he will put a “literal Dogecoin” on the Moon, said that he has bought some for his 9-month-old baby, and suggested that it could become the “currency of the internet”.

His promotion of the cryptocurrency has led to attention from the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr Musk appeared to welcome that announcement on Twitter, writing: “I hope they do! It would be awesome”.

Dogecoin was first released in 2013, intended largely as a joke, and with a name that referenced a famous shiba inu.

But it became hugely popular, and its fans used the interest in the cryptocurrency to sponsor a Nascar driver and launch charitable projects. That interest led its market cap to be $90 million after the first year.

The continued growth in the time since means that it now eclipses that value, however: the market cap stands at almost $17 billion afterthe new increase.

The rise in value of Dogecoin came alongside other, less dramatic increases across major cryptocurrencies, which have taken many of them to their all-time high.

Bitcoin has gained 6 per cent over the last day, and ethereum is up more than 10 per cent.