How will Musk’s entry into Twitter affect the crypto industry?

On April 4, Tesla founder Elon Musk became Twitter's largest shareholder after acquiring 9.2% of Twitter's shares. Subsequently, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said that Musk would be appointed as a member of the company's board of directors, which means that Musk has become one of the decision-makers of the social media giant Twitter.

There were early signs that Musk would take over Twitter. On March 25, he launched a poll asking netizens whether they thought Twitter followed the principle of freedom of speech. More than 70% of people chose "No".

After joining the Twitter board of directors, Musk can't wait to bring some new changes, including urging Twitter to launch a feature to edit tweets. As a supporter of the crypto industry and the godfather of Dogecoin (DOGE), Musk's new identity will also bring more influence to the crypto market.

Between April 4 and 6, DOGE was the first to respond, rising from $0.145 to a high of $0.179, an increase of 23.4%. It is widely speculated that Musk may push Twitter to accept DOGE rewards. In addition, crypto industry practitioners are more looking forward to Musk pushing Twitter to transform into a Web3 social media platform, maintaining freedom of speech while returning rights to users.

Musk becomes Twitter's largest shareholder

Tesla founder Elon Musk is still expanding his business empire without limits, and joining Twitter has become another major milestone in his personal career.

According to a document released by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 4, Musk purchased 73.4869 million common shares of Twitter (NYSE: TWTR), a listed company, and held a total of 9.2% of the shares, thereby becoming Twitter's largest shareholder.

According to statistics, Musk spent about $3 billion on this acquisition, but this huge amount is a drop in the bucket for him. According to Forbes' real-time rich list, as of April 5, Musk's net worth was $302.1 billion, ranking first on the list, more than $100 billion higher than the second-ranked Amazon founder Bezos.

On April 5, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal confirmed the news on Twitter and said that Twitter would appoint Musk as a member of the company's board of directors. He believed that Musk would bring great value to the board. Musk then responded that he would accept the position of director and would work with the board of directors to bring great improvements to Twitter in the coming months.

Musk's acquisition continued his usual "madman" style. With his wealth and power, he used the simplest and crudest method to become one of the decision makers of the social media giant Twitter, and this result was actually foreshadowed.

On March 25, Musk posted a voting thread on Twitter. He asked netizens, "Freedom of speech" is essential to democracy, "Do you think Twitter strictly follows this principle?" In the final voting results, more than 70% of the more than 2 million participants chose "No".

Musk once launched a poll on Twitter

After the vote, Musk wrote another article saying that given that Twitter actually has the characteristics of a public space, not abiding by the principle of free speech fundamentally undermines democracy. "Do we need a new social media platform?"

As soon as this statement was made, speculation arose that Musk was going to create another social platform. However, with the news that he had acquired shares in Twitter, everything was explained.

Although according to the rules of Twitter's board of directors, Musk can only serve as a second-level director of Twitter before 2024, which means that his voice within Twitter is limited. However, Musk has quickly started "Twitter governance". He launched a poll on Twitter on Monday about "Do you want an edit button?", and 73.6% of netizens chose "Yes".

The next day, Twitter officially announced that it was indeed developing a secondary editing function for tweets, and revealed that it would test the function in its paid service Twitter Blue in the next few months.

Obviously, Musk can’t wait to bring some new changes after joining Twitter. As a supporter of the crypto industry and the “Godfather of Dogecoin”, it is also worth noting how Musk’s new identity will affect the crypto market.

DOGE follows the “Godfather” and rises 23% in three days

Over the past year or so, Musk has repeatedly expressed his love for Dogecoin (DOGE) on Twitter, and Tesla once accepted users to use DOGE to buy cars. After suspending DOGE payments due to energy consumption issues, Musk announced in December last year that he would support DOGE to purchase some Tesla peripheral products.

It can be said that Musk’s personality in the crypto world has long been tied to DOGE, and when the news that he became a major shareholder of Twitter came out, DOGE started a wave of growth.

Between April 4 and 6, DOGE rose from $0.145 to $0.179, a 23.4% increase. As of 5 p.m. on April 6, DOGE was quoted at $0.162, still more than 10% higher than the previous price.

Although Musk has not yet made it clear whether he will increase the use cases of DOGE on Twitter, there have been many speculations in the market, among which Twitter's support for DOGE rewards is considered to be the first one to be implemented.

Last May, Twitter launched the Tip Jar feature, which allows users to tip their favorite creators. With Tip Jar, users can connect their Twitter accounts with payment channels such as Cash App, Patreon, and PayPal to tip in US dollars. In addition, Twitter also supports users to connect their Bitcoin wallets for tipping.

After Musk became a director of Twitter, Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus said he planned to post at least one tweet with the hashtag #Doge Twitter Tip Jar# every day to continuously attract the attention of the Twitter team and promote Twitter to support DOGE tipping. Prior to this, Musk had publicly supported DOGE many times, saying that it is a better crypto asset than Bitcoin.

Due to the close relationship between Musk and DOGE, any changes Twitter makes in the future related to DOGE will not be too surprising. Someone has already posted a photoshopped Twitter icon, which changes Twitter's iconic bird logo to the image of Dogecoin. However, DOGE is just the tip of the iceberg for the entire crypto market, and crypto industry practitioners are also looking forward to Musk using Twitter to bring more revolutionary changes to the industry.

Netizens PS Twitter Icon into Dogecoin Image

In the eyes of some crypto enthusiasts, launching a Web3 revolution around centralized Twitter is one of the most ambitious goals and is likely to be a plan that Musk will try to advance.

You know, the most intuitive reason why Musk became a major shareholder of Twitter is that he believes that Twitter restricts users' freedom of speech, which reflects his rejection of "power centralization." According to foreign media reports, Musk also proposed an idea with Twitter CEO Agrawal and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, that is, through technical means, people can control the content they see in the social media information flow, fundamentally transferring the power of social networks from giant companies to users.

Returning power to users is the main concept of Web3 and one of the ultimate goals pursued by the crypto industry. Now that Musk has taken over Twitter, the outside world has seen the possibility of this giant company transforming into a Web3 social platform.

It is worth noting that Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is also a supporter of the crypto industry. He calls himself a "Bitcoin believer" and has publicly stated that he is willing to spend more time in the crypto field. Last November, Jack Dorsey provided an interesting reason when he stepped down as Twitter CEO, "I believe Twitter is ready to move on from its founder."

This statement is very similar to the "giving power to the community" often mentioned in the crypto field. Perhaps Jack Dorsey is looking forward to Twitter's decentralized transformation in his heart. However, as a listed company, Twitter's development is still constrained by many shareholders and the SEC. This social media giant still faces many challenges in turning the rudder.