Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) may be approaching its payment system goals, according to independent app researcher Nima Owji.

On Aug. 5, Owji revealed that X was developing a “Payments” button for its navigation bar. The button, located just below the bookmarks tab, may allow users to access balances, make transfers, and conduct other transactions. X growth influencer Alex Finn echoed the sentiment, declaring that “X Payments is arriving imminently. This is going to change X forever.”

This development indicates that X’s payment system could launch soon, which aligns with Elon Musk‘s vision. Since acquiring the platform in 2022, Musk has aimed to transform X into an “everything app,” with payment services as a core feature.

Earlier this year, X announced plans to introduce a peer-to-peer (P2P) payment system by mid-2024. The company has made significant progress toward this goal by rapidly obtaining money transmitter licenses across various US states. Last month, X received a license in North Dakota, bringing the total to 33 states.

Despite Musk’s strong pro-crypto stance, there are no indications that the platform will support digital currency payments. Notably, the billionaire has also consistently maintained that none of his companies would launch their crypto token.

Sues advertisers

In a parallel development, X has filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against an advertising industry coalition and its members, including CVS Health, Mars, Orsted, and Unilever.

The lawsuit claims the group used its influence to unfairly discriminate against the social media platform, leading to an ad boycott.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino stated that the alleged illegal actions of these organizations cost X billions of dollars. She commented:

“People are hurt when the marketplace of ideas is undermined and some viewpoints are not funded over others as part of an illegal boycott. This behavior is a stain on a great industry, and cannot be allowed to continue.”

This legal action follows a significant drop in X’s ad revenue since Musk’s 2022 acquisition. Brands have become wary of advertising on the platforms due to several rapid changes made to the social media platform and reported increased divisive content.

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Social media platform X, formerly Twitter, has seemingly discontinued its support for the Bitcoin emoji (also known as a hashmoji or hashflag). As of press time, when typing #bitcoin into X, no Bitcoin logo is generated.

Initially introduced in 2020, the emoji appeared alongside the hashtag #Bitcoin, adding an orange Bitcoin symbol to tweets. This feature became a hallmark of Bitcoin discussions on the platform, and its recent removal has sparked a backlash from the crypto community.

Meanwhile, the decision is unforeseen, given that Elon Musk, the social media platform’s owner, has a complicated relationship with Bitcoin. Tesla and SpaceX, two of his companies, hold significant Bitcoin assets, and he recently even used a profile picture featuring blue laser eyes, a popular symbol among Bitcoin supporters. However, Tesla once owned substantially more Bitcoin but sold most of it in 2021 and 2022. Musk stated that his support would be reignited when Bitcoin’s hash rate was supported by at least 50% renewable energy, a level which it passed several years ago without Musk reverting his stance.

So far, neither X nor Musk has provided any public comment on this change.

Nexo’s proposal for a Bitcoin Emoji

Meanwhile, crypto lender Nexo has proposed adding Bitcoin emojis to digital keyboards globally.

The firm has submitted a proposal to the Unicode Consortium, a non-profit organization managing the global character standard.

Since 2017, Unicode has recognized the Bitcoin symbol as a currency sign. However, it exists only as a black-and-white glyph and not in its popular orange emoji.  If the current request is approved, the Bitcoin emoji will be available on all personal computers and mobile keyboards worldwide. The Consortium is expected to respond by Nov. 30.

Nexo said 15,000 people signed its petition for the initiative, and it was partnered with several top crypto firms, including Kraken, Bitget, Chainalysis, Nansen, and others. It stated that its goal is:

“Orange pill for every smartphone out there.”

Fact Protocol, a decentralized network focused on AI and Web 3.0, which also promotes the initiative, stated that it was necessary to have the “Bitcoin emoji on every keyboard.”

It added:

“Now that we together have submitted the proposal to Unicode, this will be forever etched in the history books for as long as we keep communicating digitally.”

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Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter was completed yesterday and the integration of NFTs has already been announced.

Elon Musk begins the restructuring of Twitter, NFTs are added 

A real revolution began yesterday at Twitter, which saw the expulsion of CEO Parag Agrawal. 

It seems that the new CEO may be the new owner, Elon Musk, who has already begun to revolutionize the company. 

Indeed, Musk is intent on making numerous changes that could eventually really revolutionize what is one of the most historic social networks in existence, since it was born in 2006. 

One of his first initiatives in this regard was to ask Tesla engineers to meet with Twitter’s product leaders to review the platform’s computer code. 

In recent days, Musk had joked that the so-called “edit button,” or tweet text editing feature, had not yet been integrated into Twitter because it was claimed to be a difficult thing to do. 

Yesterday’s ouster of four top managers, and the dispatch of Tesla’s engineers, makes it clear that Musk seems quite intent on shaking up the company to get it back to innovating promptly and quickly. 

He also announced that he intends to lay off up to 75% of the staff, probably to make the company less expensive and more streamlined. 

In short, a real revolution. 

Elon Musk: the integration of NFTs into Twitter

Most likely, integration of crypto services will also be part of this revolution. 

One of these has already been under experimentation for some time, that is, since before the Musk era began. 

It is the so-called NFT Tweet Tiles, officially announced yesterday. 

Now testing: NFT Tweet Tiles

Some links to NFTs on @rarible, @MagicEden, @dapperlabs and @Jumptradenft will now show you a larger picture of the NFT alongside details like the title and creator. One more step in our journey to let developers impact the Tweet experience. pic.twitter.com/AkBisciB1i

— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) October 27, 2022

Through this feature it will be possible to connect Twitter to four NFT marketplaces: Rarible, Magic Eden, Dapper Labs and Jump.trade. Interestingly, the largest platform, namely OpenSea, is excluded at this stage. 

This connection will allow NFTs to be shared on Twitter with larger images and details such as title and creator. 

According to some, this would only be a first small step toward integrating the buying and selling of NFTs. 

In fact, a first integration was launched some time ago, but it was not very successful. Moreover, Elon Musk himself had criticized it as being annoying. 

The fact is that this previous integration was really about creating NFTs, while the new one is about promoting NFTs for sale. 

It is worth mentioning that in order to be sustainable, Musk’s plan for Twitter involves a large increase in revenue, so some kind of integration with buying and selling NFTs could come in handy if fees are collected on transactions. 

The four connected marketplaces use a variety of blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Flow, Tezos, and Immutable X, and the feature built into Twitter is designed to also enable NFTs supported on other blockchains in the future. 

For now, this feature is still only in the testing phase for selected users. 

The reinstatement of banned accounts

Another initiative in this new era could be the restoration of locked accounts. 

Or, rather, the introduction of the possibility of having locked accounts unlocked forever. 

The reference is to those accounts, such as Donald Trump‘s, which have been permanently locked by Twitter in the past, and which Elon Musk claims he would like to somehow rehabilitate. 

To be precise, he would like to lift the lifetime bans, so much so that he has already stated that he would like Donald Trump to return to tweeting. However, he has not yet revealed how he intends to handle the process, partly because in cases such as Kanye West‘s for example, account rehabilitation led to new violations that inevitably ended up producing the indefinite suspension. 

The issue of free speech, however, seems to be crucial for Musk. Indeed, he has also stated that the reason he bought Twitter is to enable all of humanity to be able to engage in public discussion on a kind of global virtual plaza. 

On the other hand, however, this cannot mean that trespassing should be allowed on Twitter, so there will always and still be limits. 

In the case of Donald Trump, it is not yet clear whether he has violated any laws. There are ongoing investigations and court proceedings that will determine this, and in theory it would be necessary to wait until the conclusion of these trials to be able to be sure. 

Instead, in Kanye West’s case, the violations are more blatant, but it seems that Musk’s idea is not to proceed with lifetime bans but perhaps with other forms of punishment or limitation. 

Twitter’s shares on the stock market

In theory, Twitter’s stock should be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) today. 

Indeed, Elon Musk has purchased virtually all the shares. Therefore, there should be no more outstanding. 

This will lead to the inability to trade shares, causing the inevitable delisting of the stock from the exchange. 

However, the new owner has stated that he intends to bring it back to the stock exchanges within 3-5 years. 

The fact that he wanted to buy all the shares at $54.2 each is most likely due to the fact that he intends to run the company completely independently. This is necessary if he wants to turn it inside out in a short time, but it becomes less and less important as the revolution reaches its climax. 

So once it is turned inside out and relaunched, it could profit from selling the stock at a price perhaps above $54.2. 

Yesterday the stock closed at $53.7, or a gap of less than 1% from Musk’s purchase price. 

In February it had fallen as low as $31, but in the past it had also reached above $80. Should the market value of Twitter shares return to the highs, it would mean a gain of about 50% over the current value. 

Binance in the Twitter acquisition

Yesterday, Binance CEO Changpeng CZ Zhao let it be known that the company has sent Musk the $500 million agreed upon to participate in the Twitter acquisition. 

Our intern says we wired the $500 million 2 days ago, probably just as I was being asked about Elon/Twitter. https://t.co/gM65GHUnZC

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) October 28, 2022

He also said that now that Musk has taken control, he feels much more secure regarding his Twitter account. 

In addition, he called for the introduction of the edit button and the elimination of comments made by bots. 

I feel much more secure about my Twitter account now that Elon has sink’ed in there.

Edit button
No API/bot comments

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) October 27, 2022

While the nature of the personal relationship between CZ and Musk is not yet clear, it is, however, possible to imagine that thanks to Binance, i.e., the world’s largest crypto exchange, Twitter could now integrate several crypto features. 

The curious thing in this regard is that while yesterday the price of Dogecoin was up 20%, today it is falling 6%. It is as if yesterday the hypothesis of integration between Dogecoin and Twitter had spread through the markets, while today that hypothesis has already deflated. 

The point is that although Musk is a supporter of Dogecoin, there are currently other blockchains that are more prominent and used that could provide better integration. Moreover, it is really still too early to try to figure out what kind of integrations we can talk about. 

Elon Musk’s comment

After kicking off the revolution, Musk commented thus, “the bird is freed”.

the bird is freed

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022

The little bird is the symbol of Twitter, so he announced that he had “freed” Twitter. 

It is not clear what he freed it from, but the concept he had been expressing several times was that it was somewhat caged, but it wanted to fly again. 

Indeed, it had seemed for years that Twitter was now burdened by its own inability to innovate. Musk probably plans to unleash its creative forces again by effectively giving it a new life.

For about six months now, it has been possible to use NFTs as a profile image on the Twitter social network in a verifiable manner.

Twitter: how many use NFTs as profile picture

Anyone who owns an NFT can display it on their account, certifying that they are the true owner.

But how many actually use this feature? Who on Twitter not only owns a Non-Fungible Token but is also displaying it?

To answer these questions, the company Eidoo, and the Poseidon Group, have created a platform that allows users to check who is already using NFT as their Twitter profile picture. 

The growth of the NFT market

The website is called Hexagons Café, and until February 2022 it reported that only 9,000 people were using it, while now, as of June, it is around 28,000.

It is therefore a growing figure, as on average around 4,000 were registered each month, but there could certainly be many more as there are 229 million on Twitter and it is estimated that over 600,000 unique addresses moved NFTs in the last quarter of 2021.

In any case, it is clear that in order to exhibit an artwork and thus be proud of it, these must probably be very rare NFTs that represent status, like having a Crypto Punk or a Bored Ape, therefore few compared to the multitude of non-fungible tokens in circulation.

It is worth mentioning that the Hexagons Café tool only refers to Ethereum-based NFTs which, although in the majority, do not represent the total number of crypto artworks or collectibles available on the market, as there are many on other blockchains such as Cardano, Solana, Zilliqa and so on.

Furthermore, perhaps not all NFT owners want to display their collection, often in the possession of the so-called whales who go to great lengths to remain anonymous, in the true spirit of the crypto world.

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For some time now, Twitter has been allowing its users to use an NFT as their profile image. 

These are static hexagonal images represented by NFTs held by the user on their crypto wallet. 

The service of Eidoo and Poseidon

Related to this, Eidoo and the Poseidon group have launched a project that allows for checking who is already using NFTs as their Twitter profile image. 

The website is Hexagons Cafe and reveals that there are already more than 9,000 unique users who have chosen to replace the classic profile image with an NFT. 

Growth in the number of users using NFT on Twitter as profile image

This is a growing number, because on average more than 700 are added every day. 

The website also shows a random NFT of these new profile images every time you open it, and by clicking on “Shuffle pfp”, a new one will appear. 

Many of the NFT profile pictures are from users closely tied to the Ethereum community, and given that the official Ethereum Foundation profile has over two million followers, it’s easy to imagine that the number of those who have chosen to take advantage of this option could grow quite a lot in the coming months. 

Hexagons Cafe also has an official Twitter profile, called hexagons-game.eth, which obviously has an NFT as its profile picture. 

In order to use this feature, it is necessary to have a subscription to Twitter Blue. 

Twitter Blue is a paid monthly subscription that offers access to premium features on Twitter. For now, it is still active only in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, but slowly will be extended to other countries. 

After subscribing it’s very easy to replace the profile image with an NFT, and Twitter Blue itself has recently published a short video tutorial that shows how to do it:

Ready to show off your NFT? Follow these simple steps to connect your crypto wallet and let’s see your NFT PFPs! pic.twitter.com/epSL7VXG5o

— Twitter Blue (@TwitterBlue) January 20, 2022

For now, only static image NFTs (JPEG, PNG) minted on the Ethereum blockchain (ERC-721 and ERC-1155 formats) are supported.

In order to upload them you need to connect an NFT wallet of your choice between Argent, Coinbase Wallet, Ledger Live, MetaMask, Rainbow and Trust Wallet to your Twitter profile. 

Obviously, you can only use NFTs that you own, so before uploading them you need to make sure you own them on the wallet you want to use. 

If the NFT used as a profile image is sold, the hexagonal shape of the profile image will return to a circle shape, but the image will remain, though no longer as an NFT. 

 

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QuickNode is the blockchain infrastructure that verifies and validates the digital art ownership of Non-Fungible Tokens on Twitter’s new Profile Picture NFTs.

QuickNode and Twitter’s Profile Picture NFTs.

Behind the famous announcement of Twitter Blue (the section of Twitter dedicated to subscribers who spend $2.99 per month) regarding the possibility of integrating the new Profile Picture NFTs seems to be QuickNode’s blockchain platform, famous for its API that validates and verifies the ownership of digital art. 

Beyond excited to power @Twitter’s new NFT Profile Picture feature on @TwitterBlue. Monumental moment for NFT & Web3 communities, Twitter and @QuickNode. Super proud of all involved in making this a reality and look forward to seeing your NFTs on Twitter! #NewNFTProfilePic https://t.co/92UmqPNMaB

— QuickNode We’re Hiring! (@QuickNode) January 20, 2022

“Beyond excited to power Twitter’s new NFT Profile Picture feature on TwitterBlue. Monumental moment for NFT & Web3 communities, Twitter and QuickNode. Super proud of all involved in making this a reality and look forward to seeing your NFTs on Twitter!”.

In short, Twitter Inc. has launched a new feature for its Twitter Blue users on iOS allowing NFT owners to show off their artwork as profile images in the form of a “soft hexagon.” 

QuickNode is a Miami-based blockchain infrastructure that recently completed a $35 million Series A funding round led by venture capital firm Tiger Global followed by Seven Seven Six, Soma Capital, Arrington XRP Capital, Crossbeam and Anthony Pompliano. 

QuickNode to verify digital ownership of Twitter’s NFTs.

QuickNode’s support will let Twitter include a small indicator that the NFT has been validated, so everyone can see who really owns the Non-Fungible Token in their profile picture and who, instead, simply downloaded a JPEG. 

All users are able to see a great deal of information about the NFT, just by clicking on the profile photo. 

The Twitter Blue account, for example, has updated their profile picture with an NFT they created. When you click on it, you learn who produced it, what it is, what qualities it has, what blockchain it is stored on, and more.

On that note, Amol Shah, QuickNode’s CRO said:

“While demand for QuickNode’s platform as a provider of blockchain infrastructure continues to take off as more companies look to adopt blockchain as part of their product strategy, we’re excited to partner with platforms such as Twitter to deliver support for features like their recently launched NFT Profile Pictures. Through this new feature, we’ll help provide a means in which people on Twitter can show off the NFTs they own and be a part of its thriving community”.

Elon Musk: “Twitter’s new NFT Profile Picture is annoying.”

Apparently, not all Twitter users seem to be happy with the new hexagonal avatar feature. 

Tesla’s infamous CEO Elon Musk was quick to share his thoughts on the matter, calling, “Twitter’s new Profile Picture NFT annoying”.

Not only that, in the comments, Musk criticizes the very investment of engineering resources that Twitter employed to make the hexagonal NFT avatars. The Tesla CEO, in fact, seems more focused on cryptocurrencies than Non-Fungible Tokens, despite the price drop this early in the year. 

A few days ago, Musk reportedly asked McDonald’s to accept Dogecoin (DOGE), his favorite crypto-meme. In response, the big fast-food brand mentioned a new crypto called Grimacecoin. 

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