Dogecoin has soared 44% in the past week as Elon Musk's Twitter takeover lifts hopes for expansion in payments

• Shiba Inu themed crypto token Dogecoin has made strong gains this week.
• The cryptocurrency is up 44% this week, rising as Elon Musk headed toward the finale of his Twitter takeover.

Shiba Inu inspired cryptocurrency dogecoin has gained as much as 44% since Monday as the Elon Musk-Twitter saga neared its conclusion.

The meme token was up nearly 10% on Friday, trading at $0.085.

The cryptocurrency has been promoted in the past by Musk, and often moves with his comments on Twitter. Musk completed his bid for the social media company and officially took over as chief executive late Thursday, with his Twitter handle now labeling the Tesla CEO as "chief twit."

But dogecoin's connection to Musk's often unpredictable comments have dragged the token lower as well, as the meme cryptocurrency experienced a massive selloff in June when Musk first attempted to back out of the Twitter deal.

Dogecoin's recent gains can also be linked to speculation that Musk may develop a crypto wallet on Twitter that would accept deposits and support withdrawals. Musk has also previously said that Twitter could possibly accept dogecoin itself for payments, and his other ventures Tesla and SpaceX already allow the token to be used for some transactions. Twitter nor Musk have not yet confirmed the crypto wallet project.