The only thing I've seen Elon Musk say about verification was:

Now. If he means, some verified / check mark for all who request it, or if he means mandatory verification for all accounts, who knows. But Twitter already has a method for verifying humans, they just had been using it as filter (to give only to, with some exceptions, those in their camp). If instead it is just opened up to anyone who wants it, then there's no change needed (other than to maybe add more automation or whatever to that to scale to the level needed once opened up).

I really doubt they believe could get (or would want) the vast majority of their Twitter userbase having to figure out bitcoin wallets in order to get verified.

All this Elon/twatter drama is a distraction. And is meaningless. A distraction from bigger things. Like this: 5 signs they are CREATING a food crisis

On the other side, Elon doesn't have those money. The US gov have those money (subsidizing Elon). Elon is just a puppet, a frontman to keep the sheeps busy. This move is the well know game of "hey look at this hand, meanwhile with the other hand I am taking your wallet..." Don't fall for this shitshow.