A Bank of England digital currency for the UK has moved a step closer after chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a top-level taskforce to explore the benefits and risks of the idea.

Sunak said on 19 April a joint Treasury-Bank of England taskforce was being set up as part of a range of measures designed to boost the City following Britain's departure from the EU.

Meanwhile, Dogecoin was up 18% to $0.4075 on the morning of 20 April, in contrast to falls in Bitcoin and Ethereum following last week's Coinbase crypto firm listing on the Nasdaq.

The rise coincided with social media attention around what supporters of the cryptocurrency have called 'DogeDay', with Dogecoin up 18% to $0.4075 on the morning of 20 April, in contrast to falls in Bitcoin and Ethereum following last week's Coinbase crypto firm listing on the Nasdaq.

It is unclear exactly why supporters have decided 20 April, but posts on sites like Twitter and Reddit are urging fans to buy the token to push its price up to $1.

Reports at the weekend said the US Treasury was planning to censure financial institutions for money laundering carried out through digital assets, while regulatory action in Turkey banning cryptocurrency has also hit sentiment.

Nigel Green, the chief executive and founder of deVere Group said: "Dogecoin is the new GameStop. The out-of-favour bricks and mortar videogame retailer rocked Wall Street in January when a group of small-scale mainly inexperienced investors, led by a frenzy on Reddit, sparked a historic short squeeze where they drove up its stock prices.

"Since Reddit lifted its ban on the discussion of three cryptocurrencies - Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin - activist investors and also some celebrity investors on social media have been urging others to invest their cash into Dogecoin - their new pet populist bandwagon.

"In the same way that the GameStop frenzy was pitched as a battle-play of ‘Wall Street versus The Little Guy', Dogecoin is being pitched as a battle-play against the well-established crypto giants like Bitcoin.

"But this is not typically the way reasoned, savvy investors should strategise to create and build their portfolios in order to reach their financial goals."

The memecoin was created in 2013 as a joke, poking fun at the rise of established digital assets such as Bitcoin. Dogecoin was inspired by the popular Doge meme, which offers the image of a Shiba Inu looking sideways at the camera with raised eyebrows.

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