By Zainab Shafiq 
Elon Musk, the tech entrepreneur and second-richest man in the world, continues to make headlines with his unique experiments on Twitter. In his latest move, Musk replaced the bluebird Twitter logo with the Shiba Inu dog that represents the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, causing the digital currency’s value to surge by more than 20%. The logo change was made on the website version of the social network, but the Twitter mobile apps reportedly remained the same.
The Dogecoin cryptocurrency was created in 2013 as a joke to mock other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, but it has since gained a following and real-world value. However, Musk is currently facing a $258 billion lawsuit alleging he ran a pyramid scheme to support Dogecoin, but his legal team has asked the court to dismiss the suit.
Musk is known for being a superfan of the Doge meme and has previously pushed Dogecoin on Twitter and while presenting “Saturday Night Live” last year. The price of Dogecoin increased by more than 30% on Monday following the modification to Twitter’s online logo.
The lawsuit against Musk claims he engaged in racketeering by supporting Dogecoin and is based on his hosting role on “SNL,” when he referred to Dogecoin as a “hustle.” However, Musk’s lawyers have called the allegations a “fanciful work of fiction” and claim that the plaintiffs have not demonstrated how Musk’s statements in favor of Dogecoin deceived anyone.
Despite the legal issues, Musk’s Twitter logo change has had a positive effect on the value of Dogecoin. The currency’s value jumped from US$0.079 to US$0.094, the highest it has been since November last year. This is not the first time Musk has boosted Dogecoin’s value with his tweets, and it is likely not the last.
In addition to the logo change, Musk has also made headlines for his purchase of Twitter for $44 billion last autumn and promising to remove legacy blue ticks for verified users from 1 April. However, the site has only removed the tick for the New York Times’s main Twitter account. A leaked internal memo suggests that Twitter is now worth less than $20bn, less than half of what Musk paid for it six months ago.
Overall, Elon Musk’s influence on Twitter and the cryptocurrency market continues to be a subject of fascination and controversy.