Elon Musk Eyes Twitter Payments: ‘Fiat First, Crypto Later’

Twitter’s director of product management is reportedly designing the software needed to implement Musk’s payments vision with a small team

article-image

Blockworks exclusive art by Axel Rangel

share

Billionaire Elon Musk is set to execute his payments-related vision for Twitter as he works on revamping the company’s revenue streams. 

The Financial Times reported Monday that the microblogging site has begun applying for the required regulatory licenses in the US and is shaping the software needed to implement the payments plan.

Musk reportedly wants the system to be “fiat, first and foremost” so that crypto payments can be added at a later point. He intends to create an “everything app,” one that is expected to be similar to China’s WeChat, for a suite of services like peer-to-peer payments, social networking and e-commerce shopping. 

This wouldn’t be the first time Musk would be working on payments-related tech. He is hailed as the pioneer of the digital payments industry for starting financial services company X.com in 1999, which later became PayPal.

One of Twitter’s most influential leaders, Esther Crawford, has begun to draw up specifics of what would be required to roll out Musk’s vision, the FT said. Musk recently appointed Crawford, who is director of product management at the company, as the chief of Twitter Payments, a subsidiary set up in August before he became CEO.

Her compact team is working fast on aspects of the plan, including developing a vault to store and protect user data gathered in the process, FT said, citing two people familiar with the matter. Blockworks has reached out for comment on the matter.

Loading Tweet..

Twitter plans to generate $15 million from the payments business this year, which is expected to balloon to $1.3 billion by 2028, the New York Times reported, citing a pitch deck. Musk specifically wants advertising to contribute just 45% of Twitter’s total revenue, down from about 90% in 2020.

Musk discussed integrating digital payments and wiping out crypto-related scams at his first Twitter all-hands meeting in June last year.

“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 then.

Twitter has already kick-started regulatory licenses for its payments business. In November, the company filed paperwork with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to become a money service business. Now, it’s reportedly in the process of applying to some state licenses that are required for launch.

Loading Tweet..

Musk is among the most public and influential figures in the crypto space, with observers noting that his impact on the market can’t be underestimated.

His electric car manufacturer was one of the first corporates to buy bitcoin in 2021. Despite selling 75% of its bitcoin holdings in 2022, Tesla chose to hold on to its remaining bitcoin in the fourth quarter.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
  • Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
  • 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
  • Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
  • The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
  • Supply Shock: Tracking Bitcoin’s rise from internet plaything worth less than a penny to global phenomenon disrupting money as we know it.
Tags

Upcoming Events

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 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

Research Report Templates.jpg

Research

Bluefin possibly stands at an inflection point. The token is near an all-time low yet the protocol’s spot volume market share and derivatives exchange usage have been increasing month over month since its November launch. Given its current market position and the upcoming upgrades (for both Bluefin and SUI), there may be upside potential before the increased supply growth in December. However, strong opposition from existing competitors (like Cetus and Suilend), as well as new entrants (like Aftermath), pose key challenges to Bluefin’s medium-term success.

article-image

Top Committee Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren in her opening statement accused Atkins of “helping billionaire CEOs like Sam Bankman-Fried”

article-image

Introducing garbled circuits for enhanced privacy and regulatory compliance

article-image

Ross Ulbricht was a freedom maximalist building freedom tech, powered by Bitcoin

article-image

Solana validators can reap benefits including payments, votes and community clout

article-image

Sponsored

WalletConnect is cementing itself as the essential connectivity layer, ensuring wallets remain the entry point for billions of users

article-image

According to a legal filing, Galaxy Digital helped boost the price of LUNA while quietly selling its tokens