OCT 30 — Dogecoin surged more than 70 per cent yesterday, extending this week's gains after Elon Musk sealed a US$44-billion deal to take over Twitter last week.

The Tesla Inc CEO, a vocal proponent of cryptocurrencies, has heavily influenced prices of dogecoin and bitcoin.

Tesla started accepting dogecoin as payment for its merchandise early this year, and Musk's newly launched perfume brand can also be bought with dogecoin.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance which has invested $500 million into Musk's buyout of Twitter, said it is brainstorming strategies on how blockchain and crypto could be helpful to 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 lets users not only send messages but also make payments, shop online or hail a taxi.

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

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

He tweeted on Friday that Twitter will form a content moderation council "with widely diverse viewpoints," and said no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before the council convenes.

The billionaire in a tweet on Saturday said that Twitter users could in future choose a version of the social media platform they like by providing ratings on their tweets.

"Being able to select which version of Twitter you want is probably better, much as it would be for a movie maturity rating," he said. — Reuters