Musk Sees Logic for Twitter as a Crypto Payments Platform
The Tesla CEO has agreed to purchase Twitter for about $44 billion and spoke Thursday at an all-hands meeting for the social network company.
Jun 16, 2022 at 6:43 p.m. UTC:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/UZGGGTRXDZG4PP263HQNLZHW6Q.jpg)
Elon Musk spoke at an all-hands meeting for Twitter employees. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
Michael Bellusci is CoinDesk's crypto reporter focused on public companies and digital asset firms.
Billionaire Elon Musk said it "makes sense" to integrate digital payments into Twitter (TWTR).
- "Money is fundamentally digital at this point and has been for a while," Musk said, speaking at a virtual all-hands meeting for Twitter. "It would make sense to integrate payments into Twitter so it's easy to send money back and forth."
- Musk, who serves as CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has an agreement in place to purchase Twitter for $44 billion. Despite some public wavering about completing the deal, the purchase appears to be on track, and Musk's attendance at Thursday's meeting suggests some level of commitment.
- Twitter has already tiptoed into cryptocurrency, incorporating bitcoin (BTC) tipping in 2021 under then-CEO Jack Dorsey, and adding ether (ETH) functionality early this year. Twitter also became the first company to try out a new program from payments processor Stripe, which in April announced a feature enabling payments in USDC via Polygon.
- In other news, a U.S. citizen is attempting to sue Musk, SpaceX and Tesla for $258 billion on behalf of investors that were allegedly defrauded by what he claims is a dogecoin (DOGE) pyramid scheme.
- Musk has previously been supportive of dogecoin, most recently saying in May that merchandise for SpaceX would soon be able to be bought with that meme coin, just as it can be for Tesla merchandise.
Read more: How to Send Bitcoin Tips on Twitter
DISCLOSURE
Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.
The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.
:format(webp)/downloads.coindesk.com/arc/failsafe/user/1x1.png)
Michael Bellusci is CoinDesk's crypto reporter focused on public companies and digital asset firms.
Learn more about Consensus 2023, CoinDesk’s longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.
Michael Bellusci is CoinDesk's crypto reporter focused on public companies and digital asset firms.
:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/OUGGFZQFMNCYDAMY6OOPQWZMMI.jpeg)
:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/3CYHVEICANA5TE3HULFJW4X7PQ)
:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/JMCNRJNV6VBJLPNEY7BYUDIZJE.jpg)
:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/PJTR3KRDWJCRVE3QREM6KUOK7A.png)