Brace Yourself for Dogecoin-Twitter Integration
Brace Yourself for Dogecoin-Twitter Integration
Hey everyone,
Elon’s first full week at Twitter is in the books.
In October, he promised “very rapid product evolution” once he took over.
He wasn’t joking. Behind the scenes, Twitter is working on a new video platform, a new search engine, a new verification system, community-based fact-checking, content monetization, and much else.
Bigger than all that, however, is Dogecoin integration, which was teased several times throughout the week.
Let’s take a look at why Dogecoin will play a monster role in the future of social media, the viral $8 meme that took over Twitter, and a grassroots campaign to memorialize Doge forever.
Brace Yourself
Since Dogefather became Chief Twit, he's been dropping massive hints of Dogecoin-Twitter integration.
On Halloween, he posted a photo of his Doge Floki dressed in a Twitter costume, along with a winking emoji.
Later, he was photographed wearing apparel from the Dogecoin.com swag store.
But the biggest clue was when he responded to a tweet asking about Doge-Twitter integration with the eyes emoji “👀”.
This isn't the first time Elon has had eyes for Doge. Back in March 2021, he had the same response to my tweet about why Dogecoin is better than Bitcoin as a transactional currency.
Dogecoin is even faster and cheaper than it was back then, making it the ideal for micropayments on the new Twitter.
Early indications are that Twitter is going to try something ambitious with micropayments that could lead to a powerful new model of content creation.
In an interview earlier this year, Elon explained that newspapers could use Twitter to sell access to individual articles, rather than require that people become monthly subscribers to read paywalled articles.
He even suggested that they could charge users in Dogecoin!
A new funding model would help resolve one of the paradoxes of online media: while people are reading more news than ever before, journalistic institutions are collapsing.
Oftentimes, the best reporting happens at the local level, but people don't want to pay small newspapers a $10+ dollar monthly subscription fee to read a single article.
Allowing users to buy individual articles for anywhere between a few cents and a few bucks would bring market forces to bear on journalism.
A single well-done article could rake in tens of thousands of dollars, incentivizing writers to pursue investigative depth over clickbaity superficiality.
Micropayments could become the future of online content, allowing creators to cut out the middleman and receive compensation directly from fans.
Twitter is developing a similar idea with its new paywalled video feature, which allows creators to sell access to individual videos. The platform is expected to launch within a few weeks.
Elon even liked a suggestion to allow users to receive tips for individual tweets.
Dogecoin is the perfect micropayments crypto for all of these uses because of its fast speeds, cheap fees, decentralized distribution, and social "fun factor." Bitcoiners are unlikely to spend their precious digital gold on articles, videos, and tweets, but the DogeArmy will happily use Doge to support makers.
Dogecoin to a dollar is more than just a meme: it conveys Doge's one-of-a-kind utility as digital cash.
If the stars keep aligning, the Dogeconomy will merge with the digital creators' economy to create an content marketplace the likes of which the world has never seen.
Brace yourself: Doge-Twitter integration is coming.
Dogecoin to $8
Doge integration isn't the only big change on the horizon for Twitter.
The first power move to go into effect will be a revamp of Twitter's "blue check" verification system.
As soon as this week, any real person can get a verification badge for $8 a month.
The main goal of the new system is to eliminate bots. Accounts that violate rules be suspended without refund, amounting to an $8 fine for spam.
With verification opening up to millions of users, the new system will generate significant revenue for Twitter and improve the product for the average user.
Before Elon took over, verification was reserved for accounts that were "authentic, notable, and active," giving Twitter employees wide discretion to determine who counted as important enough to get a check.
Last week, Elon revealed that some employees abused Twitter's control over verification, selling blue checks for upwards of $15,000.
Outcry from the current blue-check caste (who pay $0 in the current system) over the $8 fee was deafening, with celebrities, public intellectuals, and politicians vowing to #resist the changes or abandon Twitter altogether.
While it may have started with noble intentions, in practice, verification was used as a tool to manicure the official narrative.
For the most part, legacy media only cites verified users in their stories, creating a self-amplifying loop that cut out dissenters and freethinkers.
This is a problem in itself, but its consequences multiply when the official narrative turns out to be wrong, as was so often the case over the last few years.
The idea that only celebrities, rich people, and powerful institutions are important enough to have a newsworthy opinion is profoundly un-American. Good riddance to the old system!
As the outcry over its demise intensified, the spectacle of millionaire celebrities spending their precious time on an app they supposedly didn't think was worth $8/month became a viral meme.
A common gripe was that Elon was wrong to promise free speech and then charge money because Twitter was supposed to be "free."
Elon's old nemesis AOC took this line, depicting him as an example of a greedy billionaire selling access to the First Amendment.
Elon trolled her back before calling attention to a $58 dollar sweatshirt on the AOC merch shop.
After AOC accused Elon of targeting her by reducing her Twitter functionality in a lowkey erotic video, Elon responded, "What can I say? It was a naked abuse of power."
Later, he wrote, "Hot take: not everything AOC says is 100% accurate.
It's worth emphasizing that speech is free on the new Twitter whether users pay $8 or not.
The fact that the company is making tiered user experiences more widely available and eliminating the status-based blue-check hierarchy has little to do with the First Amendment.
If celebs are really hung up about the eight dollars, they're still welcome to use Twitter for free, but they'll experience the same lower-tier product that the rest of us unverified plebs have been stuck with for the last several years.
Aside from the $8 thing, Elon has been catching flak from conservatives who feel he isn't loosening content moderation fast enough, advertisers who blame him for loosening it too fast, and activists who say he's responsible for a supposed rise in hate on the platform.
By all appearances, nothing has changed about Twitter's content moderation yet, though Elon reported a decline in hate speech since he took over.
He made light of the backlash by changing his Twitter bio to "Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator," his location to "Hell," and posting a meme of himself wearing satanic regalia, an evident commentary on the way groups across the political spectrum project their particular version of utmost evil onto him.
When large changes do go into effect, it will mark a fundamental shift in the way we think about social media.
Up to this point, Silicon Valley giants have reaped enormous profits by monetizing the attention of users and selling their data to advertisers. Companies have minimal incentive to share profits with content creators, only to max out clicks and eyeballs.
For the first time, Twitter is giving users the option to try a different way.
The new system is one of the most interesting things to happen to social media ever.
It'll be fun to watch the reactions as the shift plays out among both celebs and plebs.
For now, the only lingering question is, when will users be able to buy verification badges with Doge?
#BronzeTheDoge
While the battle for control of the narrative raged on Twitter, another big happening flew under the radar.
To celebrate Kabosu's 17th birthday, the Dogecoin community launched a fundraising campaign running from November 2nd to December 6th. The campaign is called #BronzeTheDoge.
Its aim is to create a lasting memorial of Kabosu (the original Doge) in her home city of Sakura, Japan in the form of a giant bronze statue.
The initial fundraising goal is $42,069. So far, over 200,000 Dogecoin has been raised.
Any funds raised in excess of the goal will be directed toward making the statue even larger. The fundraiser's official statement reads, "The size of the Doge statue will increase in direct correlation with the amount raised beyond the initial target."
The campaign is a reminder that while Dogecoin has morphed into a story about the future of social media and the Internet economy, it is also a story about grassroots action of a fun-loving online community.
Most memes and cryptocurrencies fade into irrelevance quickly. Dogecoin has survived for nearly a decade because of its special blend of humor and wholesomeness.
As long as Dogecoin remains absurd, it will bring value to the Internet.
Donations in $DOGE, $ETH and other cryptocurrencies are easy to make on Dogecoin.com.
No contribution is too small. Anyone can take part in this unique event in Internet history.
Do it for Kabosu.
Doger
Elon has been dropping big hints that Twitter's new content model will feature Dogecoin integration. It would be a huge step in making Doge the native currency of the Internet.
$8 verification will improve product experience for the average user and eliminate the spambots that've scourged Twitter for the past several years. Good riddance to the old caste system, which privileged the speech of celebs and other public figures above the general population.
Whatever happens with Twitter and Doge, the #BronzeTheDoge fundraising campaign exemplifies the power of grassroots fundraising that Dogecoin makes possible. Doge's combination of absurd humor and wholesomeness gives it value no other crypto can match.
Dogey Treats: News Bites
Twitter's content moderation council will include civil rights groups and groups who face hate-fueled violence. The ADL asked advertisers to pause ads on Twitter due to anti-semitism. Elon tweeted, "Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists," before adding, "They’re trying to destroy free speech in America."
Pfizer (paid largest health care fraud settlement in history), Oreo (recently settled child slavery suit), and Volkswagen (founded by Nazi party) pulled ads from Twitter over ethics concerns. A user urged Elon to call out advertisers "succumbing to the advertiser boycotts" so "we can counter-boycott them." He responded, "A thermonuclear name & shame is exactly what will happen if this continues." Despite advertisers dropping Twitter, the number of users on the platform has "increased significantly around the world since the deal was announced."
Elon said the process for reinstating unjustly suspended accounts "will take at least a few more weeks." Accounts coming back may take a few more weeks." He also tweeted, "If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me if Trump is coming back on this platform, Twitter would be minting money!"
M.I.A. tweeted in support changes to Twitter, writing "I love how scared the mainstream is of @elonmusk resetting twitter." The White House deleted a tweet about social security after it was fact-checked. Elon wrote, "the system is working." In a separate tweet, he said, "Our goal is to make Twitter the most accurate source of information on Earth, without regard to political affiliation."
Jack Dorsey still owns a stake in company believed to be worth roughly $1 billion. Elon said his choice to dissolve Twitter's board and act as sole director was "just temporary." Jack and Elon got into a long exchange about whether Birdwatch or Community Notes was a better name, ending with a "Birds Aren't Real" meme
Cathie Wood said she believed Twitter will become a "super-app." In a thread explaining why Binance invested in Twitter, CZ wrote, "We believe Elon and crypto can help unlock innovative business models that do not involve selling user data."
Elon announced several forthcoming changes to Twitter interface. Users will be able to attach long-form text to tweets, eliminating the need for screen-shotted text. Twitter's Revue newsletter may get improved implementation, or be scrapped altogether. Twitter's search function "will also get a lot better pronto."
Twitter laid off 50% of its staff on Friday. Elon explained the decision, "Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day. Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required." Jack Dorsey wrote, "I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the company size too quickly. I apologize for that."
Kathy Griffin and Ethan Klein had their accounts suspended on Sunday for violating Twitter Terms of Service by impersonating Elon. He explained, "Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended" because Twitter does not allow "malicious deception." Later, he joked, "Actually, she was suspended for impersonating a comedian" and said she could get her account back for $8.
Dogecoin
Binance exchange is launching a Bluebird Index that includes exposure to Doge, BNB, and MetaMask's token
Kabosu had her 17th birthday.
SpaceX/Tesla/TBC
Falcon Heavy returned to action in a succesful Space Force mission after a three year hiatus. SpaceX account tweeted out a short video called "Life at Starbase."
Investor Ron Baron said Tesla could grow to a $4.5 trillion valuation in the next decade. Tesla released a video profiling their Optimus Actuators Team.
TBC tweeted that "full-scale Hyperloop Testing has begun" along with two photos of a Tesla entering a tunnel.
Global Financial System
Central Banks bought a record amount of gold in Q3, 2022.
Trading on Toronto's stock exchange was halted on Tuesday.
Meme Stonks
Gamestop rolled out its partnership with FTX.
Minnesota congressional candidate and former NBA player Royce White said the Federal Reserve is part of an "international banking cartel."
Elections
Hillary Clinton claimed "right wing extremists already have a plan to literally steal the next presidential election" through the Supreme Court.
Malik Obama observed that five and a half million votes were nullified in Brazil's recent election. Protests claiming the election was stolen have carried on in Brazil. In response to a claim that some Brazilian accounts were suspended for calling the election into question, Elon wrote, "I will look into this."
The Associated Press said midterm elections were not expected to be decided on election night. In response to a tweet from Tom Fitton about election-related censorship, Elon wrote, "Twitter will not censor accurate information about anything."
Russia-Ukraine
Researchers from the University of Adelaide found that "as many as 80 percent of tweets about the 2022 Russia-Ukraine invasion in its early weeks were part of a covert propaganda campaign originating from automated fake ‘bot’ accounts."
The Grayzone ran a four-part series on #NAFO, the army of social media accounts aimed at "fortifying the digital frontline of NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine."
Free Speech
Rumble was asked by the French government to block Russian news sources. Its CEO Chris Pavlovski refused.
Elon reiterated his goal of making Twitter "by far the most accurate source of information about the world." He agreed with a tweet that Twitter's plan was to "end dependence on advertising revenue so no one has Twitter by the balls." In response to a journalist who criticized the $8 plan, he wrote "You represent the problem: journalists who think they are the only source of legitimate information. That’s the big lie."
Kyrie Irving donated $500,000 to “causes and organizations that work to eradicate hate and intolerance in our communities” for posting a link to a controversial documentary. He had another contentious interview with reporters. Ye posted a photo of Kyrie to Twitter in his first tweet since his suspension was lifted. He also posted a screenshot of celebrity personal trainer Harley Pasternak threatening to have him involuntarily institutionalized, and a screenshot of a Brooklyn Nets press release suspending Kyrie for five games for "failure to disavow antisemitism." In a separate tweet, Ye wrote "I was told that if I expose the truth of the bad business practices everything is gonna be taken from me Including my black children ". He wrote another tweet that was taken down for violating Twitter policy. Joe Rogan weighed in on the Ye controversy, opining that it was wrong to cancel Ye. He agreed with Lex Fridman's approach of engaging Ye in dialogue: "have a conversation with him and correct all the things that he's saying that you think are wrong."
UFOs
Breaking Points' Sagaar Enjeti did a segment calling out the government to continuing dishonesty on UFOs.
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Memes of the week
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At the time of publication, Dogecoin is around $0.13 per coin.