The Time When Edward Snowden Showed Interest In Replacing Elon Musk As Twitter CEO: 'I Take Payment In Bitcoin'

Though Edward Snowden slammed Elon Musk a few weeks ago after Twitter blocked his wife’s account over her photo with their baby, there was a time when the former intelligence contractor expressed an interest in being the CEO of the social media platform. 

What Happened: In December 2022, Snowden expressed a desire to become Twitter's CEO and said that he would even accept payment in Bitcoin BTC/USD.

Snowden, while responding to a tweet by Musk saying that the challenge was not in finding a CEO, but in finding one that can keep Twitter alive, stated, "I take payment in Bitcoin." 

I take payment in Bitcoin. https://t.co/wW0Qa9NxWi

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) December 19, 2022

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Snowden, a former intelligence contractor, became famous in 2013 for leaking classified information from the National Security Agency. His disclosure revealed the massive scope of the U.S. government's surveillance of domestic and international communications.

Early in December 2022, Musk had polled users on whether whistleblowers Snowden and Julian Assange, the co-founder of WikiLeaks, should be pardoned by the U.S. government. 

I am not expressing an opinion, but did promise to conduct this poll.

Should Assange and Snowden be pardoned?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 4, 2022

The poll elicited an extraordinary response in its first hour, with over 560,000 votes cast. An overwhelming majority of respondents — a staggering 80.5% — voted to pardon the two whistleblowers. 

Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $28,035, down 2.22% in the past 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro data.

This story was originally published on Dec. 18, 2022.

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Photo: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons