<p>Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced this morning that “<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1650731557164818437">Verified accounts are now prioritised</a>”. The tweet appears to indicate that accounts with blue checks will now feature more prominently in users’ Twitter feeds — and thus likely gain more followers and engagement than those without.</p> <p>Musk’s program — in which people who pay $8 per month a rewarded with a blue check next to their name on Twitter — is controversial. The blue check previously indicated that Twitter had independently verified a users’ identity and that the user had some experience or authority in their field or profession. Under Musk’s new plan, anyone can buy one.</p> <p>In addition, Musk appears to have given out some blue checks for free to celebrity accounts or handles with large followings even if they did not want it.</p> <p><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-228163" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-25-at-14.28.16-800x319.png" alt="" width="800" height="319" /></p> <p>So, how does this <a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/209950/crypto-twitter-pokes-fun-at-twitter-on-twitter-amid-reports-of-problems">rearrange Crypto Twitter</a>? Put simply, there are now two classes of people: those with blue checks and those without.</p> <p>And it appears that many of the most-followed accounts have received a blue check while some of the smaller, but often equally interesting, voices on Twitter are checkless. Crypto Twitter might see a bias toward blue-check voices from now, in other words.</p> <p>The Block took a random sampling of well-followed accounts to see who got the blue carpet treatment and who is now standing outside the velvet rope.</p> <h2>Blue checks on Crypto Twitter</h2> <p><strong>Vitalik Buterin</strong> — <a href="https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin">cofounder of Ethereum</a> and subject of many crypto memes.</p> <div id="attachment_228113"class="wp-caption alignnone" style="max-width: 488px;"><img class="has-caption size-medium wp-image-228113" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-25-at-12.25.16-478x450.png" alt="Vitalik Buterin's Twitter" width="478" height="450" /><p class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Vitalik Buterin's Twitter</span></p></div> <p><strong>CZ</strong> — <a href="https://twitter.com/cz_binance">founder of Binance</a>, prolific tweeter, and target of U.S.-based anti-crypto enforcement actions.</p> <div id="attachment_228116"class="wp-caption alignnone" style="max-width: 581px;"><img class="has-caption size-medium wp-image-228116" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-25-at-12.13.01-571x450.png" alt="CZ's Twitter" width="571" height="450" /><p class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">CZ's Twitter</span></p></div> <p><strong>Brian Armstrong</strong> — <a href="https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong">CEO of Coinbase</a>, the U.S.’s largest crypto exchange, and more recently a vocal antagonist of the SEC.</p> <div id="attachment_228117"class="wp-caption alignnone" style="max-width: 585px;"><img class="has-caption size-medium wp-image-228117" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-25-at-11.12.35-575x450.png" alt="Brian Armstrong's Twitter" width="575" height="450" /><p class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Brian Armstrong's Twitter</span></p></div> <p><strong>ZachXBT</strong> — “<a href="https://twitter.com/zachxbt">The Sherlock Holmes of crypto</a>,” as he was once called by CoinTelegraph, is famous for his investigation of scams.</p> <p><img class="size-medium wp-image-228129" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-25-at-12.38.29-567x450.png" alt="ZachXBT's Twitter" width="567" height="450" /></p> <p><strong>Sandeep Nailwal —</strong> <a href="https://twitter.com/sandeepnailwal">co-founder of Polygon</a> and founder of Crypto Relief, an India-based charity created during the Covid epidemic.</p> <div id="attachment_228119"class="wp-caption alignnone" style="max-width: 545px;"><img class="has-caption size-medium wp-image-228119" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-25-at-12.10.17-535x450.png" alt="Sandeep Nailwal's Twitter" width="535" height="450" /><p class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Sandeep Nailwal's Twitter</span></p></div> <p><strong>Tree of Alpha</strong> — <a href="https://twitter.com/Tree_of_Alpha">white-hat hacker</a> who once found <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/02/12/coinbase-trading-vulnerability-exposed-by-repeat-white-hat-hacker/">a “potentially market-nuking” exploit on Coinbase</a>.</p> <div id="attachment_228120"class="wp-caption alignnone" style="max-width: 500px;"><img class="has-caption size-medium wp-image-228120" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-25-at-12.05.10-490x450.png" alt="Tree of Alpha's Twitter" width="490" height="450" /><p class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Tree of Alpha's Twitter</span></p></div> <p><strong>db</strong> — <a href="https://twitter.com/tier10k">prolific tweeter of crypto news</a>.</p> <div id="attachment_228121"class="wp-caption alignnone" style="max-width: 566px;"><img class="has-caption size-medium wp-image-228121" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-25-at-12.31.44-556x450.png" alt="db" width="556" height="450" /><p class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">db's Twitter</span></p></div> <p><strong>Ryan Selkis</strong> — <a href="https://twitter.com/twobitidiot">of Messari</a>, the crypto research outlet.</p> <div id="attachment_228140"class="wp-caption alignnone" style="max-width: 526px;"><img class="has-caption size-medium wp-image-228140" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-25-at-12.32.52-516x450.png" alt="Ryan Selkis' Twitter" width="516" height="450" /><p class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Ryan Selkis' Twitter</span></p></div> <p><strong>FatMan</strong> — <a href="https://twitter.com/FatManTerra">whose research</a> did so much to expose the luna/Terra stablecoin scam, <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2022/12/05/fatmanterra-most-influential-2022/">leading to its ultimate collapse</a>.</p> <div id="attachment_228123"class="wp-caption alignnone" style="max-width: 490px;"><img class="has-caption size-medium wp-image-228123" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-25-at-12.34.00-480x450.png" alt="Fat Man's Twitter" width="480" height="450" /><p class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Fat Man's Twitter</span></p></div> <p><strong>Sam Bankman-Fried</strong> — <a href="https://twitter.com/SBF_FTX">the founder of the FTX exchange</a> who is currently awaiting trial on criminal charges related to its collapse has had his access to the internet severely curtailed by a judge. And yet he has a blue tick, somehow.</p> <div id="attachment_228124"class="wp-caption alignnone" style="max-width: 621px;"><img class="has-caption size-medium wp-image-228124" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-25-at-11.25.34-611x450.png" alt="SBF's Twitter" width="611" height="450" /><p class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">SBF's Twitter</span></p></div> <p><strong>Ben Armstrong</strong> — aka <a href="https://twitter.com/Bitboy_Crypto">Bitboy Crypto</a>, a crypto YouTuber known for his aggressive approach to his critics.</p> <div id="attachment_228125"class="wp-caption alignnone" style="max-width: 553px;"><img class="has-caption size-medium wp-image-228125" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-25-at-12.14.35-543x450.png" alt="BitBoy's Twitter" width="543" height="450" /><p class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">BitBoy's Twitter</span></p></div> <h2>No-checks on Crypto Twitter</h2> <p><strong>Jordan Fish</strong> (“<a href="https://twitter.com/cobie">Cobie</a>”) — host of the “Up Only” podcast and famous for calling out low-quality projects.</p> <div id="attachment_228127"class="wp-caption alignnone" style="max-width: 578px;"><img class="has-caption size-medium wp-image-228127" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-25-at-12.37.01-568x450.png" alt="Cobie's Twitter" width="568" height="450" /><p class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Cobie's Twitter</span></p></div> <p><strong>Molly White</strong> — <a href="https://twitter.com/molly0xFFF">the writer behind Web 3 Is Going Just Great</a>, a <a href="https://web3isgoinggreat.com/">crypto-skeptic site</a> that curates digital asset disasters.</p> <div id="attachment_228131"class="wp-caption alignnone" style="max-width: 520px;"><img class="has-caption size-medium wp-image-228131" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-25-at-12.39.44-510x450.png" alt="Molly White's Twitter" width="510" height="450" /><p class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Molly White's Twitter</span></p></div> <p><strong>Rektdiomedes</strong> — <a href="https://twitter.com/rektdiomedes">“Curatoor” of The Daily Degen</a>, a substack newsletter for DeFi news.</p> <div id="attachment_228132"class="wp-caption alignnone" style="max-width: 555px;"><img class="has-caption size-medium wp-image-228132" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2023/04/Screenshot-2023-04-25-at-12.07.21-545x450.png" alt="Rektiomedes' Twitter" width="545" height="450" /><p class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Rektiomedes' Twitter</span></p></div><br /><span class="copyright"><p>Disclaimer: The former CEO and majority shareholder of The Block has disclosed a series of loans from former FTX and Alameda founder Sam Bankman-Fried.</p> <p>© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.</p> </span>