Bitcoin and Dogecoin prices were jumping around early Wednesday as the rally in cryptocurrencies seemingly lost a bit of steam after record gains over the past days and weeks. This came despite President-elect Donald Trump appointing Tesla CEO and crypto advocate Elon Musk to lead a new government department.

Musk’s concerns over the U.S.'s escalating $35 trillion debt coincide with a surge in bitcoin’s value, outpaced by the rapid rise of dogecoin, a meme-based bitcoin competitor that has gained traction with Musk’s support for the Department of Government Efficiency, known as Doge.

Dogecoin reportedly rose 145 per cent since Trump's election win. It outpaced Bitcoin's 30.5 per cent and Ethereum's 40 per cent gains in the past week.