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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.

Chart: Yahoo Finance
Chart: Yahoo Finance

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.

CAPE CANAVERAL, UNITED STATES - 2020/05/30: SpaceX founder Elon Musk looks on after being recognized by U.S. President Donald Trump at NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building after watching the successful launch of a Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon spacecraft from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken will rendezvous and dock with the International Space Station, becoming the first people to launch into space from American soil since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Tesla and SpaceX founder and boss, Elon Musk. Photo: Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

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.

Watch: What are the risks of investing in cryptocurrency?