The prices of popular canine-themed meme coins Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) spiked on Friday following a tweet from Elon Musk about the passing of Kabosu, the dog that inspired these tokens. This event once again highlighted Musk's significant influence on the market performance of memecoins.

Following Musk's tweet, DOGE surged by as much as 5%, reaching a session high of 17.3 cents within minutes. Similarly, SHIB experienced a nearly 3% jump during the same period. Although both cryptocurrencies quickly retraced some of their gains, DOGE still posted a 6% increase, while SHIB managed a 1% gain over the past 24 hours. This performance notably outpaced the mostly flat CoinDesk 20 Index.

Musk's tweet underscores his market-moving power over these meme-based cryptocurrencies. His influence has led to widespread speculation among crypto enthusiasts about his potential involvement as one of the largest Dogecoin holders and the possibility of integrating DOGE into his envisioned X payment system.

Kabosu, the Shiba Inu dog whose iconic image became synonymous with Dogecoin and other meme tokens, passed away early Friday, as confirmed by her owner in a blog post. She was over 17 years old. Kabosu's death marks the end of an era for the meme coin community, but her legacy continues to impact the crypto market.

This incident reaffirms the sensitivity of meme coins to social media trends and influential figures like Musk. It also highlights the speculative nature of these assets, driven by community sentiment and public figures' endorsements rather than traditional financial metrics.