In an unexpected move, Elon Musk has introduced a new feature on Twitter that should please the broader crypto community, but disappoint Dogecoin fans. Twitter launched live charts for the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, Bitcoin and Ethereum, late Wednesday night (ET).
Users of Twitter will see the charts with live data of the price of BTC and ETH when they use the search function and enter either the full name or the abbreviation (BTC or ETH). The new feature is an improvement called “$Cashtags” that was announced by the Twitter business account on Wednesday.
In addition to BTC and ETH, Twitter’s new feature also supports well-known stocks and exchange-traded funds by prefixing the ticker symbol with a $ symbol. Other cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin and Ethereum are not supported yet. Most notably, there is currently no support for Elon Musk’s favorite coin, Dogecoin (DOGE).
$Cashtags, now with data 📈
👀 $SPY 👇 pic.twitter.com/XgOK6gf02E
— Twitter Business (@TwitterBusiness) December 21, 2022
Bitcoin and Ether Included, But No Dogecoin
The Twitter business account said it plans to implement more financial market data and improve the user experience “in the coming weeks.” Elon Musk himself tweeted shortly after the feature’s launch that this is “one of many product improvements coming to financial Twitter! Nice work by Twitter team.”
However, at press time, Musk did not provide a comment as to why Dogecoin was not or will be integrated in the future.
Notably, the charts are provided by TradingView and link to the American trading platform Robinhood. So far, it is unknown whether the three companies have entered into a cooperation and were involved in the feature launch.
However, it is conceivable that Musk, who has been struggling with slumping advertising revenue on Twitter in recent weeks, is not offering the referral service to Robinhood free of charge. Crypto Twitter is known to be popular and comprises a large audience, which Musk is now funnelling to the trading platform, where people will also see a “Sign Up To Buy” button. So financial incentives are a distinct possibility.
In addition, Twitter has become increasingly crypto-friendly in recent months, introducing Bitcoin and Ethereum tips and various NFT features, among others. Rumors have been circulating recently that a crypto payment feature and its own Twitter Coin could be launched.
The news comes just days after Elon Musk launched a poll that ended in such a way that users voted for Musk to leave as Twitter CEO. Musk announced yesterday that he is currently looking for a successor and will remain CEO until one is found.
At press time, the Dogecoin price continues to see a rather dismal week. Over the last seven days, DOGE has fallen 16%.
Featured image from Joshua Hoehne / Unsplash, Chart from TradingView.com
