Social media darling Elon Musk sent the meme-coin world into a tailspin with a seemingly innocuous St. Patrick’s Day tweet. The tech magnate, renowned for his affection for memes and his influence as “Dogefather”, posted a lighthearted image featuring three dogs adorned in festive green hats, one of them a Shiba Inu, the mascot of Dogecoin.
Memecoin Fans React To Elon Musk X Post
This seemingly casual social media activity sparked a vibrant response from the meme-coin community. Crypto accounts affiliated with Dogecoin, Floki Inu (FLOKI), and Shiba Inu (SHIB) flooded the replies with enthusiastic messages, some featuring their own canine mascots.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 17, 2024
This isn’t the first time Musk has, intentionally or unintentionally, impacted the meme-coin market. In 2021, a tweet showcasing his newly adopted Shiba Inu puppy, named Floki in homage to a character from Vikings, is believed to have triggered the launch of the Floki Inu coin. Interestingly, the same day witnessed the birth of Baby Doge Coin, further solidifying Musk’s reputation as a meme-coin kingmaker.
Happy St. Patricks Day from $SANI pic.twitter.com/rA1tAKSg69
— Lee 🏴☠️ (@Lee_apez) March 17, 2024
Floki is now a ” Big Boy “.. pic.twitter.com/wSvCcjnvqs
— मैं भारतवासी🇮🇳 (मोदी का परिवार) (@SachienTayal) March 17, 2024
Meanwhile, as memecoin enthusiasts revelled in Musk’s festive tweet, the tech mogul was making significant strides on another technological front – Artificial Intelligence. His recently established company, xAI, has delivered on its earlier promise by open-sourcing Grok, its AI chatbot.
Total crypto market cap. Chart: TradingView
This move marks a significant contribution to the field of transparent AI development. By open-sourcing Grok, xAI has granted public access to the architecture and core functionalities of this mammoth 314 billion parameter language model.
Musk’s Twitter Impact: From Controversy To Financial Market Influence
The tweets made by Elon Musk have been a subject of significant attention and controversy due to their impact and content. Musk, a prolific tweeter with a massive following, has a history of posting tweets that have stirred both positive and negative reactions. Over the years, Musk has been known to delete tweets shortly after posting them, with hundreds being removed within hours of publication.
Notably, some of his tweets have led to serious consequences, such as the infamous tweet in 2018 where he claimed to have secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 a share, resulting in charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission and a subsequent settlement that imposed restrictions on his Twitter activity regarding Tesla.
The billionaire’s acquisition of Twitter and subsequent actions as the platform’s owner have also drawn attention. Since taking over Twitter, Musk has expressed his commitment to free speech and diversifying voices on the platform.
However, despite his intentions, his Twitter feed has been criticized for often acting as an echo chamber, where he interacts mainly with accounts that support him or post about him.
This behavior has raised concerns about how Twitter may evolve under his leadership. Moreover, his tweets have had a direct impact on financial markets. Several instances stand out where his tweets influenced Tesla’s stock prices significantly.
For example, Musk’s tweet questioning Hertz Global Holdings Inc.’s deal to buy Teslas for its rental-car fleet led to a 3% drop in Tesla’s stock the following day. Similarly, his tweets about Tesla’s valuation or production predictions have caused fluctuations in the company’s stock prices.
Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView