Why SBF requested Elon Musk to purchase Twitter

Alas, Musk solely replied with cursory responses, together with, “As long as I don’t should have a laborious blockchain debate,” and is now doing all he can to not purchase Twitter. However the episode does elevate the fascinating query of why SBF, a quant greatest identified for his outstanding buying and selling savvy, would need to be half proprietor of the enormous media platform within the first place.

In response to a DM from Fortune, an individual accustomed to SBF’s considering despatched a hyperlink to a Twitter thread from July during which the billionaire decried the fragmentation of social media—noting that you could’t talk with your mates throughout completely different platforms like Fb and Twitter—and that crypto might remedy this. He added that utilizing “Blockchain-Twitter” and “Fb-Twitter” would imply “You need to use any platform, and nonetheless discuss to all your mates on each platform. Your messages, and community, are yours: you’ll be able to transfer platforms and preserve them.”

After I interviewed SBF this summer time, he expressed related views, figuring out social media as one in all three killer apps for crypto within the close to future (the opposite two had been funds and settlement). I didn’t embrace these parts in my story, however we additionally mentioned how the influential enterprise capitalist Chris Dixon has shared an identical thesis and made a significant funding in a social media blockchain known as DeSo.

However in the midst of our dialog, SBF additionally added, “I don’t suppose operating a social and on-chain social media community is sort of a nice match for FTX as a enterprise,” however that the corporate could be keen to assist such a enterprise as a know-how companion.

It’s not onerous to see how proudly owning a chunk of Twitter would assist SBF accomplish this imaginative and prescient, particularly as the corporate’s co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey has already added crypto options to the platform, together with NFT profile photos and Bitcoin funds. If SBF purchased a big stake in Twitter, he would little doubt turbocharge such efforts—and within the course of make the already out-there neighborhood referred to as Crypto Twitter (or CT) even wilder nonetheless.

Any such plans would appear to be on ice for now, nevertheless, as Twitter and Musk slug it out in courtroom in a bitter forwards and backwards. However as soon as the mud settles, it will likely be curious to see if SBF renews his efforts or finds one other solution to plow billions into social media—a area during which he’s clearly .

Jeff John Roberts
jeff.roberts@fortune.com
@jeffjohnroberts

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