Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and now Twitter’s largest shareholder at the time of the discussion, suggested that dogecoin (DOGE) could become a payment option for the platform’s Twitter Blue subscription service. The idea emerged as part of a broader conversation about how Twitter could improve its subscription model, verification system, and user experience.
Musk had been actively engaging with Twitter users after disclosing a 9.2% stake in the social media company and promising “significant improvements” to the platform. Among the issues he raised was the role of the verification checkmark and whether paid subscribers should receive some form of authenticated status through Twitter Blue.
A Broader Rethink of Twitter Blue
In Musk’s proposal, users who sign up for Twitter Blue would potentially receive a verification checkmark tied to their subscription. That idea immediately prompted feedback from users around the world, including comments that the then-$3 per month price point could be too high in countries with lower purchasing power. Responding to that criticism, Musk agreed that pricing should be adjusted based on local affordability and offered in local currency.
He then added another notable suggestion: one of the payment methods could be to pay in DOGE. While the comment was brief, it was enough to energize Dogecoin supporters and revive speculation about whether Musk might push for broader crypto payment integrations in digital consumer products.
Twitter Blue, which launched in June of the previous year, was available at the time in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The subscription gave users access to premium features, including Undo Tweet, which allowed subscribers a 20-second window to revise their posts before publication. Musk’s comments suggested he viewed the service as a starting point for more ambitious changes rather than a finished product.
Pricing, Verification, and Anti-Abuse Measures
Musk also outlined a more detailed pricing and moderation framework for a subscription-linked checkmark. He said the price should “probably be about $2 per month,” but paid 12 months upfront. He further proposed that an account should not receive the checkmark for the first 60 days, a delay he said could help guard against credit card chargeback abuse.
His plan also included stricter enforcement for misuse. If an account used the paid verification system for scams or spam and was suspended, Musk said it should receive no refund. He added that if a user cancels the subscription, the checkmark should disappear as well; otherwise, bad actors might simply subscribe briefly, gain legitimacy, and then stop paying while keeping the badge.
Importantly, Musk said this type of subscription-based verification should be distinct from a checkmark identifying a “public figure” or “official account.” That distinction suggests he was thinking about multiple layers of identity signals on the platform, rather than collapsing all account status into a single badge.
DOGE Price Reacts Quickly
The market response to Musk’s Dogecoin remark was immediate. According to the report, DOGE was trading at $0.144240 when he posted the comment. By the time of writing, the token had climbed 8.45% to $0.156430. That move underscored a pattern long familiar to crypto traders: Musk’s public statements about Dogecoin often carry outsized influence over short-term market sentiment.
Within the crypto community, Musk is sometimes referred to as the “Dogefather” because of his repeated endorsements of the meme coin. Even relatively informal comments from him have historically triggered bursts of enthusiasm, speculation, and volatility around DOGE. In this case, the possibility of a practical use case inside a major social platform gave the market an additional narrative beyond pure celebrity attention.
Musk’s Longstanding Preference for Dogecoin in Payments
Musk had previously disclosed that he personally owns bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), and dogecoin (DOGE), and said he does not plan to sell those holdings. He has also repeatedly framed Bitcoin as better suited to store-of-value use cases, while describing Dogecoin as more practical for transactions. In earlier comments, he called Dogecoin “the people’s crypto,” reinforcing his view that it could serve as a more accessible payment currency.
That position has already translated into limited commercial adoption within his business ecosystem. Tesla, for example, has accepted Dogecoin for some merchandise. By suggesting DOGE as a payment option for Twitter Blue, Musk appeared to extend the same thesis into digital subscriptions: that crypto, and Dogecoin specifically, could be used in simple, consumer-facing transaction flows rather than only held as speculative assets.
Why the Proposal Matters
Although Musk’s idea was presented as a suggestion rather than a confirmed product rollout, it drew attention for several reasons. First, it connected one of the world’s most visible social media platforms with one of crypto’s most recognizable retail tokens. Second, it framed crypto payments not as a headline-grabbing one-off experiment, but as part of a broader redesign of platform incentives, account verification, and user trust.
The proposal also highlighted a recurring debate in digital platforms: whether subscription revenue can be paired with identity signals without increasing fraud, impersonation, or unequal treatment. Musk’s emphasis on upfront payment, waiting periods, and badge removal upon cancellation showed that he was not only discussing monetization, but also the operational challenges of preventing abuse.
For Dogecoin, the significance was equally clear. The token has long benefited from community enthusiasm and celebrity endorsement, but critics have often questioned the depth of its real-world utility. A subscription service at the scale of Twitter Blue, if it ever supported DOGE, would represent a visible and recurring transactional use case. Even as a proposal, the idea reinforced the argument from supporters that Dogecoin could evolve beyond memes into everyday online payments.
Whether or not the payment option would ever be formally implemented, Musk’s comments once again demonstrated his ability to move both the conversation and the market. By linking DOGE with a recognizable consumer service and pairing that idea with concrete suggestions on pricing and verification, he gave traders, users, and platform observers a fresh glimpse into how crypto might be woven into mainstream internet products.