The bird is caged and the dog unchained!

Dogecoin, the payment system that Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer initially invented as a joke as an alternative to conventional cryptocurrencies, had been steadily declining and trading at a low price on the market for months. But boom! All of a sudden, prices surged, by 16% in value over the course of the day and 25% week to week taking the market valuation in an upward spiral. But why this sudden phenomena?

Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is inherently related to Dogecoin’s brief resurgence. As he is now officially in charge of Twitter after he closed the $44 billion deal and celebrated with his customary outrageous antics as he entered the headquarters holding a sink and tweeted “Entering Twitter HQ - let it sink in” and altered his Twitter bio to read ‘Chief Twit’ at the same time.

One of the most prominent and vociferous proponents of Dogecoin is Musk, who frequently uses his tweets to impact the cryptocurrency’s price had tweeted in 2020 that the rise of the altcoin was inevitable and took action beyond merely tweeting about it. He included Dogecoin as a payment option on his Tesla store, a big support of the cryptocurrency. For those who have invested, the hope is that Musk would eventually turn the meme coin into a payment option on Twitter, perhaps when he transforms the site into a super app a la WeChat that users can use for payments among other things.

The impact as I see it, will go beyond the dogecoin hype. In fact, a cryptocurrency service called NFT Tweet Tiles was one of the first products to be introduced in the Elon Musk era. It allows users to buy, sell, and display non-fungible tokens (NFTs) directly through Tweets and was introduced on October 28—just one day after Musk assumed control of Twitter. Rarible, Magic Eden, Dapper Labs, and Jump.trade are the four markets with whom the feature is currently partnered.

On October 29, Binance aligned its loyalties to Musk. The biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world has assembled an entire team to investigate the present problems brought on by Twitter bots. Spam bots are frequently used to spread false links to phoney giveaways and other types of financial frauds. Therefore, a concerted effort to stop such behaviour should make investing in Crypto Twitter safer. In order to focus on how blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies could benefit Twitter, Binance is forming an internal team that is actively formulating plans and strategies that could aid Musk in realising his goal. For instance, how can we create on-chain solutions to some of Twitter’s problems, such as the rise of bot accounts over the past few years. They are still developing their strategy at this early stage, but have set the ball in motion. Coincidentally, Binance contributed $500 million to Elon Musk’s bid to acquire Twitter.

In conclusion, despite the hype and the hustle, the takeover of Twitter may well be a good thing for Web3. With Twitter at his disposal, Musk’s increased social media influence can have a double-edged effect on how the cryptoverse will play out.

Remember, birds sing even after a storm!

(The writer is Founder, India Blockchain Alliance)