Nikita Bier, X's head of product, recently made a statement that may indicate what X is planning to launch. "Crypto has had a rough year, perhaps it's time we introduce something to address this," Bier wrote in a post that garnered over 677,000 views in a matter of hours.
This comes as Elon Musk's X Money is set to launch in April, featuring peer-to-peer transfers, bank deposits, a debit card, and cashback rewards, all built in partnership with Visa and available in over 40 US states. While details about the product are still scarce, it's been described as a fiat-based system with no confirmed crypto functionality, although the company hasn't explicitly ruled out the use of blockchain technology. The design of X Money overlaps with areas where crypto has been focused, such as instant payments and yield on dollar balances. Recently, X hired Benji Taylor, formerly of Aave, which has sparked speculation about the potential integration of crypto into X Money.
Whether this will lead to competition or integration with the crypto industry remains to be seen. For now, the ambiguity surrounding X Money's launch has left many wondering if it will be a catalyst for change in the crypto industry, and if so, whether that change will come from within or from external platforms like X.