- X (formerly Twitter) has removed Bitcoin and MAGA emojis from hashtags without any official announcement
- The change affects the visibility of brand symbols and emojis for crypto and political hashtags
- Emojis were first introduced in 2020 under Jack Dorsey’s leadership to enhance brand recognition and engagement
Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) has quietly removed the Bitcoin and MAGA emojis from hashtags. These tokens first appeared on X in 2020 as part of a strategy to increase brand recognition and adoption online.
It looks like hashtags like Bitcoin and Crypto no longer automatically display these emojis. X hasn’t made any public announcement about the removal, and we’re still not sure about the reasons behind this change.
Crypto users on X noticed on Friday morning that emojis aren’t showing up when they use hashtags like “#Bitcoin.” It turns out that hashtags for #bnbchain and #cryptocom, which used to show emojis, also don’t display them.
Additionally, the MAGA emoji that once featured Donald Trump was removed just before his scheduled appearance at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville.
Bitcoin emojis were first introduced in 2020 when Jack Dorsey was at the helm of X. Dorsey aimed to make the Bitcoin symbol popular in Unicode, a text encoding standard designed to support global digital text.
Back then, X reportedly charged companies up to $1 million to add an emoji or brand symbol after a designated hashtag, to stand out from competitors and generate consumer excitement.
Strategic Timing or Coincidence?
Elon Musk’s choice to remove emojis from hashtags like Bitcoin and MAGA on X (formerly Twitter) has sparked some debate, particularly given the timing of the change.
The removal came just before Donald Trump was scheduled to appear at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville. He was expected to discuss his platform and its relation to cryptocurrencies.
The MAGA emoji, which used to feature Trump, was taken off the platform around the same time, which has led to more speculation and concern among crypto enthusiasts and conference attendees.
His move not only got rid of the visual appeal of hashtags, but it also left a lot of people wondering if there’s something more going on or if there’s a reason why he suddenly removed them, especially since it was during a big event in the crypto world.
