Twitter will reportedly become a platform for accepting payments as a result of Elon Musk’s ambitious plan to transform the popular social media app into a new, larger service named X.
Experts believe that this scenario has consequences for cryptocurrencies, particularly Dogecoin (DOGE), one of the billionaire’s favorite toys.
For quite some time, Elon Musk has consistently expressed his desire to create an all-encompassing mobile app that combines social media, messaging, and online shopping, as well as the ability to conduct financial transactions such as sending money. Considering Musk’s high-profile involvement and experimentation with cryptocurrencies, it’s highly likely that digital assets could play a significant part in this new strategy.
The automobile company he founded, Tesla, has invested in Bitcoin. Elon Musk has expressed his enthusiasm for DOGE on multiple occasions, saying that it is one of his favorite cryptocurrencies, in a tweet from 2019. In a recent development, earlier this year, Twitter changed its logo to Dogecoin’s dog symbol for a few days, which caused a significant yet temporary surge in DOGE’s value. Consequently, following Twitter’s announcement regarding its rebranding as “X,” DOGE experienced a significant price rise on Monday.
Brian D. Evans, CEO and founder of BDE Ventures, a Web3 venture studio, and advisory organization, remarked that Elon “clearly has an affinity for DOGE, almost as part of a running joke, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually went through with enabling payments via DOGE.”
The Financial Times reported in January that Musk had requested that the company develop payment infrastructure, initially for fiat currencies, with the option to subsequently add cryptocurrency.
Despite its flirtation with mainstream status during the bull market that ended in 2021, cryptocurrency has not yet fully penetrated into the mainstream. While Elon Musk has his fair share of critics, there is no guarantee that enabling crypto payments on X (formerly known as Twitter) will significantly impact the adoption of cryptocurrency. However, considering the vast number of users still on X, it has the potential to expand the usage of cryptocurrencies.
According to Evans, it is likely that Elon Musk will incorporate various crypto assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins like USDC. Additionally, given DOGE’s prominent presence in Elon’s online persona, it would be almost expected for a DOGE function to be included if he were to launch a crypto payments system on Twitter.
Elon Musk’s concept for a platform called X originated during his tenure at PayPal. The platform’s name was originally X.com before the merger with Confinity, a company founded by Peter Thiel and Max Levchin. Interestingly, Musk now owns the X.com URL, which currently redirects to Twitter. Meanwhile, Twitter has obtained money transmitter licenses in three U.S. states (Michigan, Missouri, and New Hampshire) as part of its discreet development of a payments tool.
Elon Musk’s keen interest in transforming Twitter into a prominent player in the payments industry, as highlighted by Phillip Shoemaker of Identity.com, has led to an exploration of integrating cryptocurrency into the platform. If successful, this move could position Twitter as the go-to platform for various payment applications, including both traditional fintech services and blockchain-based platforms like Ethereum and Solana. Twitter’s previous collaboration with payments startup Strike, headed by Jack Mallers, for introducing a bitcoin tipping feature further supports this venture into the cryptocurrency realm.
Raluca Cherciu, CEO of Unpaired, concurs that if Musk’s vision of creating an all-encompassing app becomes a reality, incorporating cryptocurrency payments would be a groundbreaking development, aligning with the active crypto community on Twitter and Musk’s own interest in the crypto industry.
