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Doge surges over speculation of Elon Musk and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin working together

A representation of cryptocurrency Dogecoin is seen in this illustration taken August 6, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Dogecoin, which performs as a proxy sentiment indicator for Musk, rose on speculation that the new Twitter boss and Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin are working on an upgrade for the memecoin. Photo: Dado Ruvic/Reuters (Dado Ruvic / reuters)

Dogecoin (DOGE-USD) has surged over 27% in the past week amidst speculation that new Twitter (TWTR) boss Elon Musk and Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin are working on an upgrade for the dog-faced memecoin.

In a tweet from last week, David Gokhshtein, founder of Gokhshtein Media wrote: "I feel that we’ll all see Vitalik and Elon working together to somehow upgrade $DOGE."

Speaking to Yahoo Finance Gokhshtein expanded on his tweet and said: "Vitalik Buterin is part of the Dogecoin Foundation.

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"Buterin has also made multiple donations to the Foundation and Elon Musk, who’s in love with the dogecoin protocol.

"A payment system is needed on Twitter, or the X-app, and Musk has been making side remarks about the potential of “maybe” having dogecoin on the platform.

"Vitalik knows the dogecoin protocol well and it would be easy for him to provide the resources to the foundation to upgrade the blockchain."

On Sunday, Musk shared slides from a Twitter "company talk" detailing his plans for the social media platform.

New Twitter developments often stoke anticipation amongst cryptocurrency enthusiasts that Musk will incorporate dogecoin into payment services on the app.

Check: Crypto live prices

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Martin Hiesboeck, head of blockchain and crypto research at cryptocurrency trading platform Uphold, said that adding a crypto wallet to Twitter could be the next logical step.

He said: “Many in the crypto space are bracing themselves for how Elon Musk will impact the industry, and the response has been surprisingly optimistic. It’s clear Musk will drive the digital asset integration with the platform along.

“For instance, many platforms will offer their own crypto wallets in order to keep transactions close to their ecosystem. Twitter doing this is a logical step for a social network that already enables users to send tips in crypto.”

Dogecoin, which performs as a proxy sentiment indicator for Musk, could also be appreciating after news that the Twitter owner might build his own "Tesla Phone".

Musk recently suggested he may move into the phone industry amid concerns that Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOGL) could ban Twitter from their app stores due to content moderation concerns.

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On Friday, the host of The Liz Wheeler Show, Liz Wheeler, said: "Half the country would happily ditch the biased, snooping iPhone & Android. The man builds rockets to Mars, a silly little smartphone should be easy, right?"

Musk said in response: "I certainly hope it does not come to that, but, yes, if there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone."

Dogecoin is already accepted for merchandise in the Tesla (TSLA) online shop, and it is not unimaginable that Musk would extend the use of dogecoin into a new Tesla Phone alternative to Apple and Google devices.

Dogecoin has risen over 27% in the past seven days to stand at $0.096 at the time of writing.

In October, rumours surfaced that under Musk's leadership Twitter would inaugurate a crypto wallet.

Popular tech blogger Jane Manchun Wong speculated the social media platform had already begun working on a wallet prototype that supports cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals, leading to a dogecoin surge of 40%.

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