Forget Dogecoin, this crypto could be the even bigger winner from Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover
In perhaps one of the least surprising conventions of all time, Dogecoin (DOGE 0.87%) increased more than 100% over the past week based on news that Tesla (TSLA -5.64%) CEO Elon Musk, an outspoken Dogecoin advocate, finally completed his takeover of Twitter on Friday, taking the social media platform private after a lengthy legal process.
Dogecoin is surging as enthusiasts speculate that Musk may make the original meme coin an integral part of the platform, for example enabling its use for payments. This may well happen, but there is a much larger cryptocurrency that could play a more central role in Twitter’s future. Here’s why GDP (BNB 2.65%)which is up approx. 20% in the last week, could be the real long-term winner here.
What is BNB?
BNB, until recently known as Binance Coin, is the native token of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume. BNB is the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with a value of $52 billion.
CZ and Elon
While Elon Musk’s affinity for Dogecoin is well known, it’s mostly surface level, while his ties to Binance and its influential CEO Changpeng Zhao, known as “CZ” in crypto circles, run deeper and could end up being much more meaningful . .
CZ confirms that Binance has invested $500 million in Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter, along with a number of other top tech funds and investors. This makes Binance the fourth largest investor in the venture, meaning the exchange has a significant stake in the platform’s success and should have a large influence on Twitter’s future endeavors, especially when it comes to incorporating cryptocurrency.
If Dogecoin becomes a means of payment on Twitter, it seems likely that BNB will play some role here as well. Furthermore, Binance will seek to help Twitter with a number of measures. CZ says that Binance has a team of engineers dedicated to helping Twitter fight bots, and that it will work to help Twitter enter the world of web3. A spokesperson for the exchange told Decrypt that “Binance is creating an internal team to focus on ways blockchain and crypto can be useful for Twitter and actively brainstorming plans and strategies that can help Elon Musk realize his vision.”
Burn BNB, burn
As the native token of the Binance Exchange, Binance Coin has more appeal than Dogecoin beyond their mutual links to Twitter’s new ownership.
For example, while Dogecoin is inflationary and has an almost infinite supply, BNB is deflationary because Binance Exchange uses the proceeds from the exchange to “burn” or withdraw a portion of BNB each quarter. Binance has previously committed to using 20% of exchange revenue to burn BNB. You can think of burning as similar to a listed company buying back some of its outstanding shares. Buying back these tokens and taking them out of the market theoretically has the benefit of making the remaining tokens more valuable.
Recently, Binance completed its 21st quarter burn, launching BNB at a value of $547 million. Binance has said it will continue to engage in these quarterly burns until 50% of BNB is removed from the circulating supply.
Is BNB or Dogecoin the better buy?
While Dogecoin may very well play a role in the future of Twitter, BNB seems likely to be the better long-term bet based on its deflationary nature and its central role in the world’s largest crypto exchange, giving it some tangible value and upside as Binance continues to grow. Its deeper ties to Elon Musk and Twitter could also be an interesting catalyst.
Ultimately, BNB and Dogecoin are speculative investments best suited for risk-tolerant investors. However, BNB looks like the better long-term investment thanks to its central role in the Binance ecosystem, Binance’s Twitter share, and BNB’s superior tokenomics compared to Dogecoin.
Michael Byrne has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.