What happened

The price of the meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE -7.19%) surged higher this week as Dogecoin supporter and Tesla Founder Elon Musk closed on his acquisition of the social media giant Twitter. 

According to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, Dogecoin traded close to 43% higher this week, as of 10:21 a.m. ET Friday.

So what

Dogecoin rose to popularity in 2021, largely thanks to support from Musk, who counts the cryptocurrency as one of three tokens he owns. Musk reportedly bought Dogecoin when he saw that employees at Tesla and SpaceX, another big company he runs, were purchasing Dogecoin with great enthusiasm. 

Ever since, Musk has been a leader in the Dogecoin community. Many times Musk has been able to move Dogecoin's price higher with his comments or actions.

Musk recently completed his $44 billion takeover of Twitter, a move that Dogecoin enthusiasts believe could bolster the token, especially if the large social media company incorporates some kind of crypto aspect that supports Dogecoin, which reportedly could be in the works.

Popular tech blogger Jane Manchun Wong recently reported that Twitter is now working on a digital wallet that would support cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals.

Now what

While it's been fascinating to watch a cryptocurrency gain so much traction just because of its mascot, the Shiba Inu dog breed, I still don't see a lot of value in Dogecoin.

The cryptocurrency does not have any special real-world use cases as far as I can tell and its blockchain network does not seem to have any real technical advantage, either. This, in my opinion, makes it even more volatile than other cryptocurrencies.