Elon Musk now owns Twitter. What does it mean for Crypto?

Elon Musk’s acquisition of social media giant Twitter is a positive development for the crypto industry. Among other things, the billionaire has prioritized fighting crypto spam bots and integrating crypto payments into the platform.

Musk’s Crypto History

Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover appears to be in its final stages.

CEO of Tesla and SpaceX posted a video on Twitter yesterday of him walking into Twitter headquarters with a sink; the video was captioned “Entering Twitter HQ – let it sink in!” Musk has since written an open letter to Twitter advertisers and the retweet a picture of himself meeting with employees at the Twitter HQ coffee bar. For all intents and purposes, it now appears that Musk owns the place.

Musk has had a strange relationship with crypto. Tesla’s decision to purchase roughly $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in January 2021 made global headlines: Musk himself tweeted, “in hindsight it was inevitable” on the day it was announced. However, the world’s richest man seemed to quickly move on from Bitcoin and begin advance Dogecoin instead insisted that the project was much more fun. Musk even joked about the meme coin when he host Saturday Night Live in May 2021.

But it hasn’t always been rosy. Just after his SNL sketch, Musk announced that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin payments, citing environmental concerns. The news caused the entire crypto market to crash. Despite the later states that Tesla would be open to accepting Bitcoin payments again when Bitcoin mining becomes a greener industry, Musk never showed the top cryptocurrency the same love he originally did. A year later, in July 2022, Tesla revealed that it had sold 75% of its Bitcoin holdings at a loss.

The billionaire’s Twitter plans

Musk’s relationship with crypto has had its ups and downs, but the acquisition of Twitter is largely seen as a positive development for Web3. One of the most obvious aspects of this is Musk’s intentions on censorship. The billionaire has repeatedly stated that his primary motive for acquiring Twitter was to promote free speech and promote dialogue worldwide. This is good news for the crypto space, as Twitter has become an epicenter of crypto-cultural activity. Musk’s permission all but guarantees that the industry will be able to continue using the social media platform to develop.

Musk has too discussed implement fiat currency and cryptocurrency payment features on Twitter. While he has been tight-lipped about details, he has hinted that payments would enable him to transform the platform into an “everything app” that would be “so compelling you can’t live without it.” Interestingly, it see you later that Twitter is working to integrate crypto wallets into its infrastructure, suggesting that the social media giant is already developing tools in line with Musk’s vision. It would hardly be surprising, of course, for Twitter to eventually enable payments in Dogecoin – as Musk has alluded to on several occasions.

Another of Musk’s priorities is the elimination of robots. Twitter has become notorious for them and they really cause harm to crypto users by tricking them into clicking on malicious links. Even Twitter’s “blue check” has not been able to prevent bot multiplication, as a bewildering number of accounts have been able to impersonate verified users such as Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin and Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao.

Musk has been particularly vocal about this issue, even in the beginning go away from the Twitter acquisition deal over allegations that the company was not open about its spamming problems. One of the solutions Musk floated for this was to make Twitter’s anti-bot algorithm open to public review; another was to add an optional paid service for people to prove their authenticity – a Sybil-resistant mechanism similar to systems used on blockchains. Regardless of the form it ultimately takes, Musk’s crusade against bots will most likely make Twitter a safer and more enjoyable experience for crypto-natives.

Finally, it’s worth remembering Musk’s impulsiveness and famous productivity. Not all of his projects succeed as spectacularly as Tesla or SpaceX, but he is known for creating new ideas quickly. As he establishes himself on Twitter, it wouldn’t be surprising for him to announce additional crypto-related products. For now, we can understand that he is an ally of the industry, albeit an unpredictable one.

Disclaimer: At the time of writing, the author of this article owned BTC, ETH and several other crypto assets.