• According to a Financial Times report, Elon Musk is open to adding BTC and crypto to Twitter payments.
• Twitter has reportedly begun applying for regulatory licenses across the U.S. in preparation to begin facilitating payments through the app.
• Musk has previously accepted bitcoin for his Tesla electric vehicles and previously tested “tipping” through the Bitcoin Lightning Network via Jack Mallers’ Strike.
Twitter Prepping For Payments
Twitter is reportedly preparing for payments, and cryptocurrency may be included in the mix. A Financial Times report stated that Elon Musk is open to adding Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies into its plans for a new payment system on the platform.
Regulatory Licenses Applied For
In order to enable this functionality, Twitter has allegedly begun applying for regulatory licenses across the United States in an effort to facilitate payments through its app. People close to the company have said that it is currently mapping out an architecture that could support both fiat currencies as well as cryptocurrency payments.
Musk’s Prior Involvement With Crypto
It would not be unprecedented for Elon Musk’s businesses to accept bitcoin transactions; he previously allowed customers of Tesla Motors to purchase their cars with BTC before retracting the option due to environmental concerns about mining cryptocurrency like Bitcoin using renewable energy sources such as solar power or wind turbines.
A Super App In The Works?
Since taking over at Twitter, Musk has expressed his desire for it become more of a generalized “super app” with multifunctionality capabilities that could benefit from cheap, instantaneous payments using platforms like the Bitcoin Lightning Network. To test this idea out, Twitter added a feature allowing users of Jack Mallers’ Strike service to tip one another with Bitcoins over Lightning Network connections before later adding a feature allowing them directly receive tips by providing their own wallet addresses.
Conclusion
Overall, while there are no firm plans in place yet on integrating cryptocurrency into Twitter’s payment system vision, there is potential that this could be explored further down the line given Elon Musk’s prior involvement with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies along with his vision of turning Twitter into a “super app.”