Elon Musk tells his developers To build Twitter payments with crypto in mind

Twitter has been teasing the addition of payments to its social media platform for a while as part of Elon Musk's vision of making Twitter an "everything app."

By Shashank Bhardwaj

Published: Jan 31, 2023 08:45:29 PM IST

Updated: Jan 31, 2023 08:47:23 PM IST

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Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, has reportedly told his developers to create the platform's payment system with the potential for adding crypto functionality in the future.

According to sources close to the company, the payments feature will initially support traditional currencies, but it will be designed to easily incorporate crypto if the opportunity presents itself.

Twitter has been teasing the addition of payments to its social media platform for a while as part of Elon Musk's vision of making Twitter an "everything app."

However, the company has not been clear about whether these payments will utilise blockchain or crypto technology, despite the CEO's belief that crypto will play a significant role on Twitter.

In December, leaked images showed the existence of "Twitter Coins", a confidential digital asset in development for payments and tipping on the platform. Many people hoped it would have a connection to crypto.

However, new leaked images of the project in January did not mention crypto or blockchain.

Last October, there were unconfirmed rumours that Twitter was creating a wallet prototype that could handle crypto deposits and withdrawals. However, currently, it seems the payment system will only support traditional currencies.

Twitter has started the process of obtaining state-level regulatory licences in the U.S. to enable payments on its platform. One source stated that the company aims to finish the licensing process in the U.S. within a year.

In November, Twitter Payments LLC registered itself with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Treasury Department, which would enable it to process payments.

After obtaining the necessary approvals from U.S. regulators, Twitter plans to seek international regulatory approvals, according to a source cited by the Financial Times.

During a Twitter Space event at the same time, Elon Musk said he imagined linking bank accounts to Twitter profiles and adding debit cards, allowing the platform to handle money transfers.

Shashank is the founder of yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash