Twitter And Elon Musk: The Crypto Angle

Elon Musk has officially bought Twitter, declaring: “The bird is freed.” News of the acquisition broke in a chaotic fashion — and it quickly emerged that the billionaire had fired several top executives, including the CEO.

Reports suggest general counsel Sean Edgett had to be escorted from the building. Despite the fact Musk already leads Tesla and SpaceX, it seems he will also serve as Twitter’s CEO on an interim basis. Trading of Twitter stock has now been suspended on the New York Stock Exchange — and investors will receive $54.20 per share each.

Musk’s motivation

The billionaire’s $44 billion deal comes after months of drama and uncertainty, along with allegations that he was trying to back out of the takeover.

But threatened with a lawsuit that would force him to complete the acquisition, Musk relented and returned to the negotiating table. In a message to advertisers, the entrepreneur said he wasn’t motivated by money — and said it’s important “to have a common digital town square where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner.”

He added: “Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences! In addition to adhering to the laws of the land, our platform must be warm and welcoming to all.”

His top priorities

Donald Trump could be set to make a return to Twitter after Elon Musk’s acquisition — with spam bots also high on the billionaire’s list of priorities. The former U.S. president was permanently suspended back in January 2021 because of “the risk of further incitement of violence.” Some major companies are threatening to pull advertising if Musk enacts this policy.

It also seems like the new “Chief Twit” is paying close attention to those who claim they are being censored through “shadow bans.” A big bone of contention during negotiations concerned how many fake users Twitter has — with Musk arguing the true figure had been grossly underestimated. Once he’s got his feet under the table, he’ll have an opportunity to find out for himself.

The crypto angle

As you would expect, there’s a crypto element to all of this as well. Musk has repeatedly tweeted about his enthusiasm for Bitcoin and Dogecoin. Earlier this year, he openly mused about whether DOGE should be accepted as a payment method for the Twitter Blue subscription service.

DOGE has rallied hard in reaction to Musk’s acquisition being finalized — up 41% in the past seven days. Binance — the crypto exchange that owns CoinMarketCap — has also confirmed that it’s invested in Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover. Co-founder CZ said: “We aim to play a role in bringing social media and Web3 together in order to broaden the use and adoption of crypto and blockchain technology.”