What just happened? Elon Musk doesn’t tweet about crypto as much as he did before taking over Twitter, but the CEO just gave his favorite digital token, Dogecoin, a price bump by changing the platform’s famous blue bird logo to the crypto’s Shiba inu dog mascot.
On Monday, Twitter users found that the familiar blue bird icon usually found in the sidebar (and elsewhere) had been changed to an image of the dog associated with Dogecoin. It’s still there now, so it looks like Musk is making a long-term commitment to this one.
Musk tweeted that he changed the icon to fulfill a “promise” made to another Twitter user before he bought the company. They suggested he buy Twitter and change the bird logo to a doge, both of which he has now done. Being Musk, he also tweeted a meme about the change.
The timing of the move could be related to the $258 billion lawsuit filed against Musk, Tesla, and SpaceX over allegations they ran a pyramid scheme promoting Dogecoin to push up its price, only to then let it crash. A few days ago, Musk petitioned a court to dismiss the suit.
“Defendants were aware since 2019 that Dogecoin had no value yet promoted Dogecoin to profit from its trading,” the complaint said. “Musk used his pedestal as World’s Richest man to operate and manipulate the Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme for profit, exposure and amusement.”
Soon after the lawsuit was filed, Musk assured people that he would continue to support and buy Dogecoin, which, gave the coin’s price another short-term boost.
By changing Twitter’s logo, Musk has once again pushed up the price of Dogecoin, which has jumped almost 30%. Other cryptos, including Bitcoin, have also experienced slight increases since Monday.
Musk previously sent Doge skyrocketing in December 2020 with his “One Word: Doge” tweet. The CEO pushed the price even higher in April 2021 when he called himself The Dogefather, making Dogecoin the fourth largest crypto by market cap. Not all of Musk’s words have been positive, though; he said Doge was a “hustle” on his Saturday Night Live appearance, and he once slammed its co-creator for calling the billionaire a “grifter.”