On April 3, Twitter changed its iconic blue bird logo to the Dogecoin crypto logo in what appears to be a late April fool’s day gag from the company’s billionaire owner, Elon Musk.
Users noted that the blue bird logo on Twitter’s homepage and loading screen had been replaced with the Shiba Inu image associated with the Dogecoin memecoin cryptocurrency.
In typical Musk fashion, he tweeted a meme noting the change.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 3, 2023
Musk has not explained the reason for the change, but some users speculated it was meant to be an April Fool’s day gag that the company was unable to bring in on time on April 1.
Notably, the logo change came just days after Musk petitioned a court in the US to dismiss a lawsuit filed against him by Dogecoin investors for $258 billion over an alleged pyramid scheme.
Dogecoin Value and Elon Musk’s Influence
On changing Twitter’s logo, Dogecoin’s value jumped from US$0.079 to US$0.0104, the highest value the currency has been since November last year.
The value of Dogecoin also jumped last year after Musk announced that Tesla merchandise could be bought using it.
Despite the losses, Dogecoin retains a market cap of more than $10 billion, ranking it among the top 10 most valuable cryptocurrencies.
In a 2021 interview with Time magazine, Musk claimed that Dogecoin had the financial fundamentals to serve as a mainstream form of currency, stating, “Even though it was created as a silly joke, Dogecoin is actually better suited for transactions [than Bitcoin]. It is slightly inflationary… but that’s actually good as it encourages people to spend rather than to hoard it as a store of value.”
A Possible Distraction from the $258 Billion Lawsuit
Elon Musk is currently facing a $258 billion racketeering lawsuit after crypto investors accused him of intentionally inflating the price of Dogecoin.
With the recent change of Twitter’s logo to the Dogecoin image, some may speculate that this move is a distraction from the ongoing lawsuit.
In the US case, plaintiffs claim that Musk used his social media presence and an appearance on Saturday Night Live to drive up Dogecoin’s price by “more than 36,000 percent over two years and then letting it crash.”
The filing alleges that Musk “used his pedestal as the World’s richest man to operate and manipulate the Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme.”
Lawyers for the tech billionaire described the lawsuit as a “fanciful work of fiction” based on “innocuous and often silly tweets” about the cryptocurrency, Reuters reported.
“There is nothing unlawful about tweeting words of support for, or funny pictures about, a legitimate cryptocurrency,” his lawyers said. “This court should put a stop to plaintiffs’ fantasy and dismiss the complaint.”
Mr. Musk has previously revealed that Dogecoin is one of only three cryptocurrencies that he owns, alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The timing of the logo change could be seen as an attempt to shift the focus away from the lawsuit and draw attention to the cryptocurrency and Musk’s influence on it.
However, it is not clear if this is the primary motivation behind the logo change, as Musk has not provided an explanation for his actions.
According to a leaked internal memo, Twitter is now worth less than US$20 billion, under half what Musk paid for it six months ago.
Despite promising to remove legacy blue ticks for verified users from April 1, the site has only so far removed the tick for the New York Times’ main Twitter account.
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