Why did Twitter change blue bird logo to doge meme Shiba Inu? What is Dogecoin?

On Tuesday, Twitter changed its logo from its iconic blue bird to the doge meme Shiba Inu – often associated with Dogecoin.The move comes just days after the social media company’s CEO Elon Musk asked a judge to dismiss a case accusing him of running a pyramid scheme to support the cryptocurrency.Musk tweeted:But what is Dogecoin? Let’s take a closer look:OriginsDogecoin is a cryptocurrency.The meme associated with the currency comes from a dog owned by a Japanese schoolteacher, as per Moneycontrol.

Atsuka Sako in 2010 posted pictures of her dog Kabosu online.

The meme, which was born after a Reddit user in October that year commented about the ‘DOGE’, soon spread everywhere from T-shirts to mugs.In 2013, Adobe’s Jackson Palmer teamed up with IBM’s Billy Markus to launch Dogecoin – essentially to mock the then frenzy that surrounded cryptocurrency.But by 2014, something strange happened – it had became the world’s fifth-largest cryptocurrency, as per Moneycontrol.Musk jumps on doge bandwagonWhile the coin itself remains little used in commerce or payments – like other digital coins, it is highly volatile and its price is heavily influenced by social media users.

Musk has been among its biggest proponents over the past few years.

The social media company CEO after taking over Twitter floated the idea of allowing users to pay a membership fee ‘in Doge’.Musk has repeatedly promoted the cryptocurrency on Twitter as well as his appearance on Saturday Night Live.Musk in February 2022 said the company's supercharging station would accept cryptocurrency Dogecoin as payment.[caption id="attachment_12389042" align="alignnone" width="640"] Twitter CEO Elon Musk, ANI[/caption]In December 2021, he announced Tesla would accept Dogecoin as payment for certain products – which caused a spike in the price of the crypto.Musk also endorsed Dogecoin over Bitcoin."The transaction value of Bitcoin is low and the cost per transaction is high. At least at a space level, it is suitable as a store of value. But fundamentally, Bitcoin is not a good substitute for transactional currency," Musk said it an interview.However, the Dogecoin itself remains little used in commerce or payments – like other digital coins, it is highly volatile and its price is heavily influenced by social media users.Meanwhile, its co-creator Palmer disowned the currency in 2021."After years of studying it, I believe that cryptocurrency is an inherently right-wing, hyper-capitalistic technology built primarily to amplify the wealth of its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight and artificially enforced scarcity," Palmer wrote on Twitter.“The cryptocurrency industry is controlled by a powerful cartel of wealthy figures who, with time, have evolved to incorporate many of the same institutions tied to the existing centralized financial system they supposedly set out to replace,” Palmer added.

Palmer also dismissed Musk as a ‘grifter’.

Speaking to Business Insider, Palmer said Musk had capitalised on Dogecoin to "latch onto communities" in an effort to "absorb them into his cult of personality."“He does this on several topics. Look at how a lot of the free speech, right-wingers have all kind of become big Elon Musk supporters," Palmer said. “That's beneficial to him because he's kind of building his army, taking in the tribes of all these different kinds of misfit communities that are extremely dedicated and extremely passionate.”Still, CoinMarketCap.com pegs Dogecoin’s market capital in excess of $13 billion.It remains the world’s eighth-most valuable cryptocurrency.On Tuesday, the currency jumped more than 20 per cent on the heels of Musk’s move.Musk asks for suit to be dismissedMusk and his electric car company Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) called the lawsuit by Dogecoin investors a "fanciful work of fiction" over Musk's "innocuous and often silly tweets" about Dogecoin.The lawyers said the investors never explained how Musk intended to defraud anyone or what risks he concealed, and that his statements such as "Dogecoin Rulz" and "no highs, no lows, only Doge" were too vague to support a fraud claim."There is nothing unlawful about tweeting words of support for, or funny pictures about, a legitimate cryptocurrency that continues to hold a market cap of nearly $10 billion," Musk's lawyers said. "This court should put a stop to plaintiffs' fantasy and dismiss the complaint."In a footnote, the lawyers also rejected the investors' claim that Dogecoin qualified as a security.The investors' lawyer, Evan Spencer, said in an email: "We are more confident than ever that our case will be successful."[caption id="attachment_12365962" align="alignnone" width="640"] A sign bearing the Tesla company logo is displayed outside a Tesla store in Cherry Creek Mall in Denver, Colorado, Feb. 9, 2019. U.S. safety regulators are turning up the heat on Tesla, announcing investigations into steering wheels coming off some SUVs and a fatal crash involving a Tesla suspected of using an automated driving system when it ran into a parked firetruck in California. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)[/caption]Investors accused Musk, the world's second-richest person according to Forbes, of deliberately driving up Dogecoin's price more than 36,000 per cent over two years and then letting it crash.They said this generated billions of dollars of profit at other Dogecoin investors' expense, even as Musk knew the currency lacked intrinsic value.Investors also pointed to Musk's appearance on a "Weekend Update" segment of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" where, portraying a fictitious financial expert, he called Dogecoin "a hustle."The $258 billion damages figure is triple the estimated decline in Dogecoin's market value in the 13 months before the lawsuit was filed.Dogecoin Foundation, a nonprofit, is also a defendant and seeking the lawsuit's dismissal.Musk's posts on Twitter, which he owns, have prompted multiple lawsuits.He won a court victory on 3 February when a San Francisco jury found him not liable for tweeting in August 2018 that he had arranged financing to take Tesla private.With inputs from agenciesRead all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.