Crypto Faithfuls Await Elon Musk’s Blockchain Plans for Twitter

Elon Musk is the new head honcho at Twitter, and crypto is abuzz with what it could mean for the digital asset space

article-image

Elon Musk | Blockworks exclusive art by axel rangel

share

key takeaways

  • After firing at least four key Twitter executives, Musk reportedly plans to assume the CEO role
  • “You can bet that digital assets will play a more prominent role on Twitter,” a crypto exec told Blockworks

Following six months of dramatic legal back-and-forth, Elon Musk is now at the helm of Twitter after closing his blockbuster $44 billion deal.

The billionaire now plans to take over as CEO, according to Bloomberg. Musk separately holds CEO positions at Tesla and SpaceX.

He’s already sacked top bosses CEO Parag Agrawal and Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, according to multiple reports. Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s head legal and policy executive, and General Counsel Sean Edgett are also out.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone acknowledged their contributions in a tweet on Friday. Meanwhile, Musk tweeted “the bird is freed,” in an apparent reference to Twitter’s new era.

His arrival at the company headquarters in San Francisco on Wednesday sparked speculation about his plans for the popular microblogging platform. Some crypto faithfuls believe there’s a good chance he’ll incorporate either cryptocurrencies or decentralized blockchain networks with the site.

Loading Tweet..

At his first Twitter all-hands meeting back in June, Musk discussed the integration of digital payments and cutting out crypto-related scams.

“I think it would make sense to integrate payments into Twitter so that it’s easy to send money back and forth…currency as well as crypto,” he said at the time.

Twitter didn’t return Blockworks’ request for comment by press time on Musk’s intention to become CEO or his crypto-related future plans.

Twitter announces NFT Tweet Tiles

Despite a hectic week, Twitter rolled out a new feature around NFTs on Friday. The site is piloting a feature called Tweet Tiles to expand links to certain NFT marketplaces, a tweet from Twitter’s developer account revealed. 

This integration currently operates with four NFT-related platforms: Magic Eden, Rarible, Dapper Labs and Jump.trade.

Loading Tweet..

What could be next for Twitter in terms of unique crypto integrations? Social media app Reddit has already launched an NFT marketplace that allows users to purchase blockchain-based avatars. 

“No doubt, you can bet that Elon and his team are seeing what’s happening with Reddit and thinking about the possibilities with Twitter,” Mahesh Vellanki, managing partner at crypto venture firm SuperLayer, told Blockworks. “Maybe they’ll choose to incorporate payments, in addition to NFT integrations, perhaps with Bitcoin’s Lightning Network or Solana Pay.”

Vellanki said it’s too early to determine what Musk will do next, but he believes the crypto advocate recognizes the potential for what digital asset technology can do for payments and NFTs.

“Just look at his interest in dogecoin. Yes, it’s a meme coin, but there is power in memes. He understands this power, and so he could very well do something wildly creative with Twitter and its role in meme-focused investing. We are entering a new world, and you can bet that digital assets will play a more prominent role on Twitter,” he added.

Observers weigh what Elon could do with Twitter

Now that Musk is the “Chief Twit” of the firm, he essentially has the liberty to create the “everything app” he envisioned. If that happens, financial services would become a major pillar of the site, echoing China’s WeChat.

Twitter could be overhauled to incorporate Web3 components and to find an equitable way to reward its top creators on the app, according to CoinGecko CEO Bobby Ong.

The company will also no longer be required to report financial information to the SEC, as it will now operate privately.

Budd White, chief product officer at Tacen, said the crypto advocate’s Twitter takeover could be an important moment for melding crypto-focused technologies with the masses.

“What better way to make big things happen than to totally retool Twitter so as to incorporate digital assets. He could do payments via stablecoins. He could integrate an NFT marketplace. Heck, he could even incorporate a DeFi borrow-lend market that is both crypto native and unique to Twitter,” White told Blockworks.

Another new feature could be a user taking out a DeFi mortgage on Twitter — something that isn’t beyond the realm of possibility, according to the product expert.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Salt Lake City, UT

MON - TUES, OCT. 7 - 8, 2024

Blockworks and Bankless in collaboration with buidlbox are excited to announce the second installment of the Permissionless Hackathon – taking place October 7-8 in Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ve partnered with buidlbox to bring together the brightest minds in crypto for […]

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Permissionless is a conference for founders, application developers, and users. Come meet the next generation of people building and using crypto.

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Monad Report Graphic.png

Research

Monad represents an ambitious attempt to address the scalability challenges faced by existing EVM chains. By leveraging innovative consensus and execution mechanisms, including pipelined consensus-execution and optimistic parallel execution, Monad aims to achieve performance metrics of 10,000 TPS and 1-second finality while maintaining full EVM compatibility. This approach positions Monad as a potential evolution of the Ethereum ecosystem, offering enhanced scalability without sacrificing the familiar developer or user experience.

article-image

Bitwise took the initial steps for an XRP ETF Wednesday

article-image

Plus, enrollment for the Donald Trump-backed crypto project is underway

article-image

On Solana so far, there are two main competitors: Jito and Solayer

article-image

Plus, Sui-eet liquidity surge and USDC’s new home on Base

article-image

The Web3 community is stacking bricks when it should be building bridges