Here’s What Elon Musk Buying Twitter Means for Crypto Enthusiasts

It’s actually happened. After what was once regarded as a joke tweet, the Dogefather is finally buying Twitter.

In December 2017, Elon Musk had tweeted “I love Twitter.” Follower Dave Smith suggested, “you should buy it then.” Musk responded, “how much?” Fast forward just over four years and Smith’s suggestion has become reality.

At US$54.20 per share, or 38% premium to the stock’s closing price on April 1 when Musk made the offer, the Tesla CEO is purchasing Twitter for US$44 billion, taking the 16-year-old social network platform private.

Musk has had a love-hate relationship with Twitter but has never failed to disappoint his 83 million followers. From triggering the SEC by tweeting about taking Tesla private, to accusing Twitter for having biased algorithms and bot-inflated user growth, Musk has certainly kept his legion of fans entertained over the years.

But now, Musk is taking an even deeper dive into the Twitterverse. Whilst nothing is set in stone, Musk has expressed a sincere interest in filtering out bots from Twitter as well as allowing users to edit their tweets.

Musk has also regarded Twitter as a sinking beacon of free speech, and has been critical about its censorship.

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said in the statement on Monday. “Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”

Crypto gains

With #CryptoTwitter trending on the social media platform, it’s clear that the deal has piqued the crypto community’s interest.

When confirmation of Musk’s deal made the news, Dogecoin popped over 27%. Musk and the memecoin have been synonymous, and his tweets in May 2021 caused Dogecoin to reach its all-time-high of US$0.73.

Another crypto called Elon Buys Twitter (EBT) surged over 6,000% in 24 hours as Elon did in fact buy Twitter.

But, Musk’s purchase of the social media platform provides more than just memecoin gains for the crypto community.

Many are concerned about Musk’s “free speech” approach to revamping Twitter. Even Dogecoin co-founder Jackson Palmer has retained a cynical stance, slamming the deal as a “hostile takeover.”

“It takes some pretty impressive mental gymnastics to associate any type of “freedom” with the richest man in the world initiating a hostile takeover and forcing one of the largest public social media platforms private,” Palmer tweeted a few weeks ago.

After the deal was confirmed, Palmer tweeted, “I just find the paradoxical assertion that the world’s richest man buying and privatizing a social media site will bring about ‘freedom’ amusing.”

However, ironies about the world’s richest man offering “freedom” aside, if Musk commits to reshaping Twitter to address his concerns, he could offer a more stable platform for the crypto community.

Investing in crypto and NFT project requires research but also interest. As Musk previously highlighted, the deluge of bot replies is detrimental to the crypto community by stirring up false hype.

“Frankly, a top priority I would have is eliminating the spam and scam bots and the bot armies that are on Twitter,” Musk said. “They make the product much worse. If I had a dogecoin for every crypto scam I saw, I would have a hundred billion dogecoin.”

How Musk plans to rid Twitter of bots is unclear, but if he achieves it, the crypto community would certainly appreciate more reliable information exchanges on the platform.

Musk’s criticism of Twitter moderators is also shared by crypto Twitter users. In fact, the whole concept of blockchain instruments such as crypto is based on the lack of a central authority. This system can be echoed in Twitter’s structure, if Musk has his way. Of course, this raises concerns about harmful content, but a step towards a digital wild west could be incredibly favourable for crypto enthusiasts.

Account suspension or bans may also be relaxed under Musk’s Twitter vision, and his pledge to open-source Twitter’s algorithms could provide a more transparent platform.