Dogecoin surges 40% as Elon Musk’s Twitter deal approaches close

Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency branded after a viral dog meme from 2013, is up more than 40% since Monday as Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter approaches a close.

The price of the token often moves in lockstep with comments made by the Tesla CEO. Doge is up 10% in the last 24 hours after the SpaceX chief changed his Twitter bio to “Chief of Twit” on Wednesday. Similarly, the meme token saw a price surge in April when Musk first floated the idea of adding dogecoin as a payment method for Twitter’s subscription service, Blue, as well as a sell-off in June as Musk tried to back out of the purchase.

But following a months-long battle between Musk and Twitter over the sale, all signs point to Musk closing the deal by his deadline of 5 p.m. on Friday. The alternative is Musk facing trial in a Delaware courtroom.

The price surge in dogecoin – pronounced “doje coin” with a soft “g” sound – also coincides with rumors that Twitter is prototyping its own crypto wallet.

Jane Manchun Wong, a popular tech blogger known for her prescient calls in the space, tweeted on Monday that Twitter was “working on a ‘wallet prototype’ that supports ‘crypto deposit and withdrawal.'”

“We don’t know which kind of cryptocurrency will be supported yet, or which network,” Wong told CNBC.

Twitter has not announced a cryptocurrency wallet product, but the social media company did roll out a tipping feature last year, which allows users to send creators bitcoin via the platform. In Feb., Twitter added ether to its tips function.

It isn’t totally clear when or why dogecoin captured the heart of Elon Musk. The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO has spent years talking up the token. 

Musk’s tweets with sometimes oblique references to dogecoin have often sent it to new record-high prices. These posts have also helped drive retail investor interest.

“You have this one guy who is sort of like the cult leader,” said Asheesh Birla, a general manager at Ripple, which manages an alternative cryptocurrency used for payments.

Musk, however, isn’t alone in his celebrity endorsement of the animal-branded token. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Snoop Dogg and Kiss bassist Gene Simmons have all publicly rallied behind dogecoin in the past. Even beef jerky brand Slim Jim is got in on the action at one point.

Doge’s price surge in 2021, attributed by one analyst to the run-up to Elon Musk’s “Saturday Night Live” appearance on May 8, 2021, even managed to crash Robinhood’s trading app.

But there was more to dogecoin’s record price run than just celebrity backing. There has also been the enduring sentiment to “stick it” to the establishment. 

“Dogecoin is like this kind of big F-U to the system,” said Avi Felman, Head of Trading at…