Eccentric billionaire Elon Musk shocked X (formerly Twitter) users on Monday after floating a paid-subscription model for the iconic social media app in an effort to eliminate bots. But will one of Musk’s favorite playthings: Dogecoin (DOGE), fit into the pay service?
Musk Wants To Charge All X Users A Monthly Subscription Fee
Hell-bent on raking profits out of a company that is famously unprofitable and cutting down on bots, X owner Elon Musk is scheming a way to charge all users a small monthly fee to access the platform.
Musk revealed the plans to put the social media platform behind a paywall in a live-streamed interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Monday.
“The single most important reason we’re moving to have a small monthly payment for use of the X system is it’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots,” Musk stated.
The multibillionaire contends that if all users have to pay a subscription fee to access the social media site, it would be more expensive for the bad actors who create bots to sustain their activities. The drastic increase in operating costs would basically discourage them from deploying more bots.
Musk did not say exactly how much money he would charge each user but revealed it would be “lower-tier pricing” than what X charges its premium subscribers — which is around $8 per month.
Dogecoin Integration On X’s New Pay Service?
Musk’s evangelism of Dogecoin has been well-documented over the years, and now, with the potential introduction of his new pay-for-play system, speculation is growing about the potential impact on the canine-themed token’s price.
The crypto community has been anxiously waiting to see if Musk will add a Doge payment function on X, as he has previously hinted. However, no concrete plans have been announced so far, and the likelihood looks diminished amid an acrid courtroom brawl over Musk’s alleged promotion of the token.
Nevertheless, given that DOGE excels at such micro-transactions that would be implemented if X becomes a subscription-only platform, the meme cryptocurrency could easily factor into those plans. Musk clearly has an affinity for Dogecoin, and it wouldn’t come as a surprise if he actually went through with enabling payments on X via DOGE.
