Dogecoin rises on Elon Musk’s Twitter deal

Oct 29 (Reuters) – Dogecoin surged more than 70% on Saturday, extending this week’s gains after Elon Musk sealed a $44 billion deal to take over Twitter last week.

Tesla Inc̵[ads1]7;s ( TSLA.O ) CEO, a vocal proponent of cryptocurrencies, has heavily influenced the prices of dogecoin and bitcoin.

Tesla began accepting dogecoin as payment for its goods early this year, and Musk’s newly launched perfume brand can also be purchased with dogecoin.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance, which has invested $500 million in Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, said it is brainstorming strategies for how blockchain and crypto could be useful for Twitter.

Twitter had begun exploring ways to incorporate blockchain technology under co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, who has been a proponent of bitcoin.

Musk tweeted this month that he is buying Twitter to create an “everything app.” The idea of ​​an everything app originated in Asia with companies like WeChat, which allow users not only to send messages but also make payments, shop online or hail a taxi.

Musk’s tweets on dogecoin, including one where he called it “the people’s crypto,” have turned the once-obscure digital currency, which began as a joke on social media, into a speculator’s dream.

Musk, who has promised to restore free speech on Twitter, is being inundated with pleas and demands to restore the accounts of banned account holders and world leaders.

He tweeted on Friday that Twitter will form a content moderation council “with vastly different views,” and said no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen until the council convenes.

The billionaire said in a tweet Saturday that in the future, Twitter users can choose a version of the social media platform they like by rating their tweets.

“Being able to choose which version of Twitter you want is probably better, much like it would be for a movie maturity,” he said.

Reporting by Baranjot Kaur and Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; editing by Clelia Oziel and Nick Zieminski

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