Elon Musk has once again captured the attention of the media with his latest move on Twitter. He replaced the iconic bird logo on the platform with the image of the Shiba Inu dog, which is the symbol of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.
This change was only observed on the website version of Twitter, as the mobile apps remained unchanged. Dogecoin was initially created as a satirical take on cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin in 2013.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 3, 2023
What could be the reason behind the recent surge in Dogecoin’s value?
Elon Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion last year, is a vocal admirer of the Doge meme and has been promoting Dogecoin on Twitter and during his appearance on “Saturday Night Live” in 2021.
As a result, the value of Dogecoin rose by over 30% on Monday after Twitter changed its online logo to feature the Shiba Inu dog.
But this isn’t the only time Musk’s tweets have impacted Dogecoin’s price – a few weeks ago, he posted a picture of the dog and jokingly declared it as the new CEO of Twitter, which also caused a surge in the cryptocurrency’s value.
The new CEO of Twitter is amazing pic.twitter.com/yBqWFUDIQH
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 15, 2023
Reason behind changing Twitter logo from bird to Dogecoin
Elon Musk provided an explanation for his decision to change the Twitter logo to the Doge image.
He tweeted a screenshot of his conversation with a Twitter user named @WSBChairman, which dated back to March 2022.
Musk captioned the photo with the words “As promised.”
As promised pic.twitter.com/Jc1TnAqxAV
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 3, 2023
In March 2022, prior to purchasing Twitter, Elon Musk tweeted about the importance of free speech on social media, asking for suggestions on what should be done.
A Twitter user suggested that he should buy the platform and change the logo to feature the Doge image. Musk replied with enthusiasm, saying it would be “sickkk.”
However, a lawsuit was filed against Musk in June 2022, alleging that he engaged in racketeering by promoting Dogecoin. The plaintiffs sought an enormous sum of $258 billion in damages, citing Musk’s comments about the cryptocurrency during his hosting role on “Saturday Night Live.”
But Musk’s legal team recently submitted a brief arguing that the plaintiffs failed to show how his statements about Dogecoin were misleading or how he concealed any risks from investors. The lawyers requested the dismissal of the case.