After months of back-and-forth, authorized showdowns, and anticipation, Elon Musk now formally owns Web2’s largest microblogging platform, Twitter.
The saga started again in April when Musk revealed his bid to purchase Twitter for $54.20 per share, amounting to roughly $44 billion. Whereas everybody was initially skeptical of his intentions, largely resulting from Musk’s recognized penchant for altering his thoughts, the deal has lastly closed.
As Musk walked into Twitter headquarters Thursday morning carrying a sink, the SpaceX and Tesla chief introduced his latest buy with a 7-second video noting, “Coming into Twitter HQ – let that sink in!” Shortly after, news broke that Musk fired Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and a number of other different high executives.
For crypto lovers, Musk’s legion of followers, and Web3 proponents, this highly-anticipated acquisition was a second to rejoice, and rightfully so. The eight-month ordeal was at least an epic roller-coaster journey, whereby Musk offered to buy, changed his mind, made one other U-turn, modified his thoughts again, and at last purchased the social media big.
There was ample hypothesis about Musk’s true intentions behind shopping for Twitter. Whereas some declare that this transfer lays the inspiration for a very decentralized social community, others (particularly political supporters) imagine that it’ll carry an finish to censorship and promote free speech. Then there are those that imagine that this acquisition is a part of Musk’s broader imaginative and prescient of a brand new Web5 ecosystem that Twitter’s ex-CEO Jack Dorsey has been hinting at for fairly a while now.
The best way ahead for Twitter is but unsure, however many Twitteratis and blockchain proponents have their hopes excessive on the expectation that Musk will ship extra innovation and finally remodel the platform for the higher.
A US-Based mostly “Tremendous App” Within the Making?
When you’ve got adopted the Twitter-Musk saga from the start, you may be conscious that the tech billionaire initially modified his thoughts resulting from the truth that Twitter had allegedly lied in regards to the variety of pretend customers (bot accounts) on the platform. Whereas Elon urged Twitter’s representatives to reveal legitimate paperwork to show the authenticity of person accounts, Twitter officers didn’t agree together with his characterization.
As crypto PR professional Kim Bazak factors out, “Elon may be very ambivalent in the case of #Web3, however between the strains you possibly can see that he’s professional decentralization (when it is smart, like with #Bitcoin) however in opposition to the silly pattern of #NFTs, P2E and dumb jpegs.”
Musk has all the time been very vocal and clear about his opinions on Web3, DeFi, and different rising applied sciences. In a tweet that has aged gracefully, Musk identified, “Attaining really decentralized finance – energy to the folks – is a noble & necessary aim.” In the meantime, Elon is a recognized proponent of memecoin Dogecoin (DOGE) and is commonly referred to by followers and followers as “The Dogefather.”
To place this in perspective, even earlier than providing to purchase Twitter, Elon floated the concept of reworking Twitter into the “subsequent tremendous app” on par with different Asian multi-featured social platforms like WeChat and Seize. As an illustration, in an episode of the All-In Podcast, Elon talked about that “the U.S. wants a brilliant app. We are able to both convert Twitter to that or begin one thing new. It does have to occur by some means.”
He continued, “For those who’re in China, you type of stay on WeChat. It does every thing. It is type of like Twitter, plus PayPal, plus a complete bunch of issues all rolled into one, with an awesome interface. It is actually a wonderful app, and we do not have something like that outdoors of China.”
So how do all of those previous mentions line up? Extra importantly, what’s the connection between X.com and Elon’s Twitter takeover?
The Origins Of Every little thing X
Per feedback from Twitter’s new proprietor, “Twitter in all probability accelerates X by 3 to five years, however I might be incorrect.” Simply earlier than bringing his $44 billion buyout to a end result final week, the SpaceX chief hinted by way of a tweet that “Shopping for Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the every thing app.”
X all is smart, particularly contemplating that Elon co-founded a web-based financial institution named X.com in 1999. It later merged with one other firm, ensuing within the formation of PayPal. Nonetheless, in response to varied sources, Musk reacquired the X.com domain from PayPal in 2017 for an undisclosed quantity. On high of that, Musk established three different holding companies – every named with a variation of “X Holdings” – to pursue his Twitter bid.
You will need to word that this initiative of constructing a U.S.-based “tremendous app” has been in movement for fairly a while. Again in March, Twitter’s founder and ex-CEO Jack Dorsey, an avid supporter of decentralization, careworn the significance of developing a brand new platform that isn’t owned or operated by any firm however by an open-source protocol or basis of kinds. At this very time, Musk first talked about his imaginative and prescient of constructing a “tremendous app.”
Since then, Dorsey has moved on to collaborate with tasks like ION and tbDEX to develop a brand new decentralized social platform protocol. The concept is to mix Web2’s options with Web3’s open-source and decentralization to create a Web5 (Web2 + Web3) platform that can finally grant customers extra management over their information whereas stopping centralized entities from utilizing (or monetizing) it with out consent.
The X Issue
In essence, the writing is on the wall. Musk intends to construct a super-app based mostly on the WeChat mannequin. Nonetheless, the diploma of decentralization is but to be decided, particularly contemplating how WeChat operates inside walled boundaries. Musk’s X app would doubtless mix messaging, video, funds, commerce, and different actions inside one grand platform. Twitter’s acquisition may simply be the catalyst to get it began.
Furthermore, suppose Jack Dorsey will get concerned as soon as once more with Twitter post-Musk’s acquisition. In that case, we would even see a merger of concepts that finally results in the event of an open and decentralized customary for social media – one which finally delivers a brand new model of Twitter that’s extra inclusive, censorship-resistant, decentralized, and freed of political machinations.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the creator and don’t essentially mirror these of Nasdaq, Inc.
