On the 25th of April, 2022, the board of Twitter agreed to a $44bn takeover offer from billionaire Elon Musk. Twitter is known to be a crypto-active community where different topics and trends on the blockchain technology gain traction.
Different speculations have been in the air about how the social media giant would change under Musk’s leadership. Momentum was already building for crypto adoption on the platform even before the Musk takeover.
Late last year, the platform rolled out a feature that allows users to tip creators with Bitcoin and an Ether option was added in February. Earlier in April, Twitter announced a partnership with Stripe, an online payments company, that would allow selected Twitter creators to get paid in USDC stablecoins.
Elon Musk, a tech mogul has always been a staunch advocate of cryptocurrencies and Web3. He often speaks about cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ether and particularly fondly about the meme coin Dogecoin. He revealed in March that he personally owns bitcoin, ether, and dogecoin—and doesn’t plan to sell.
And now, the world’s biggest crypto influencer owns an influencing platform with the reach of over 300M people monthly, a significant move Musk could make is pushing Twitter to buy Bitcoin as a treasury asset, similar to what he has done at Tesla and SpaceX.
Twitter’s finance chief said in 2021 that investing in crypto “doesn’t make sense right now.” That position would most likely change when Musk takes over fully. From a market standpoint, scooping up possibly billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin could also have an impact on prices.
Another area Musk’s takeover can affect the crypto-vibrant Twitter is Bots. One of the problems battling Twitter is bots. According to CNBC, it is estimated that up to 15% of Twitter users were automated bot accounts. The prevalence of Twitter bots coupled with the ability of some bots to give seemingly human responses has enabled these non-human accounts to garner widespread influence.
Under Musk’s leadership, the social media platform could solve the problem of scammers and spambots with crypto. Musk has highlighted removing ‘bots’ from Twitter as one of his priorities.
“I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features……defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans.”
It is suggested that users could transfer some Bitcoin via the Lightning network as a security deposit to get a form of Twitter verification.
Many believe that the centibillionaire would integrate more crypto payment options like Dogecoin. In early 2022, Tesla began accepting dogecoin for merchandise purchases on its website. Dogecoin holders may be hoping Musk’s Twitter could see more of the same.
Dogecoin, which has frequently been touted by Elon Musk in tweets, jumped 30% immediately after news of the Twitter deal was announced on April 25. Some analysts have speculated that the cryptocurrency’s price increased on expectations that Musk will use the Twitter platform to promote DOGE and other digital assets, and try to increase their mainstream acceptance.
Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst at digital asset broker GlobalBlock said in an interview with Barron’s that the Twitter deal news “has led to speculators buying Dogecoin due to Elon’s obsession with the cryptocurrency, and hence the potential for Dogecoin to be given more utility on one of the biggest social media networks if Elon is successful.”
More broadly and fundamentally, the crypto community is keenly watching how a reimagined Twitter could play a role in wider efforts for decentralization. Many retail investors are also bullish that Musk leading Twitter will lead to wider adoption of Dogecoin, Bitcoin and other digital assets, something that could help cryptocurrencies gain greater acceptance.
