Dogecoin surges as Elon Musk says he's working with developers
Watch: Coinbase set to offer Dogecoin
Dogecoin soared on Friday after Elon Musk said he was working with the crypto's developers to improve its efficiency as a means of payment.
The Tesla (TSLA) boss, who has previously said his Dogecoin tweets shouldn't be taken seriously, tweeted that he was "working with doge devs to improve system transaction efficiency" and said the work was "potentially promising."
The cryptocurrency, which was conceived as a joke in 2013, rose over 30% on Friday morning following Musk's tweet. It was trading at $0.53, having reached as high as $0.56.
Billionaire Musk has been a staunch supporter of the meme token and frequently tweets about it. Recently he tweeted that he planned to take Doge to "the moon" on a SpaceX rocket in 2022. The "DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon" is in collaboration with Canadian company, Geometric Energy Corporation.
Musk's attention has led to increased interest from crypto trading platforms and investors. Last week, popular exchange Gemini announced support for Dogecoin, following a similar move by rival eToro.
The crypto has risen over 1,500% since the start of the year largely thanks to Musk's attention. It is now the fourth-most valued coin with a market cap to over $70bn, according to CoinMarket.
Read more: Bitcoin falls below $50,000 as Elon Musk doubles down on climate criticism
The currency hit record highs ahead of Musk's Saturday Night Live (SNL) appearance, before crashing back to earth. Analysts had expected the SpaceX founder to mention the crypto on the show and send prices spiking. Instead, his plug saw the coin plummet almost 25%.
Musk previously hinted that he was looking into alternative cryptos that Tesla could accept, asking his 54.5 million Twitter (TWTR) followers whether Tesla should accept Doge as payment.
While Musk is warming to Dogecoin, the entrepreneur is souring on bitcoin. On Thursday, he sent Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on a downward spiral after suddenly pulling Tesla's support. Tesla's unexpected move came as Musk said he was worried over the environmental impact of bitcoin mining.
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