In a recent post that garnered over 677,000 views in a matter of hours, Nikita Bier, X's head of product, suggested that the cryptocurrency industry's recent struggles may be addressed by an upcoming launch. "Crypto has had a rough year.
Maybe we should launch something to fix it," he wrote on Tuesday. This statement comes just weeks before the highly anticipated launch of X Money in April, which will feature peer-to-peer transfers, bank deposits, a debit card, and cashback rewards, all built in collaboration with Visa and a licensed subsidiary in over 40 US states. While the details of X Money's underlying technology remain unclear, it has been described as a fiat-based product with no confirmed cryptocurrency functionality.
However, the company has not explicitly ruled out the use of blockchain technology, and the product's design overlaps with areas that the cryptocurrency industry has focused on, such as instant payments and yield on dollar balances. The recent hiring of Benji Taylor, Aave's former Chief Product Officer and Head of Design at Base, has further fueled speculation about the potential integration of cryptocurrency into X Money.
Whether X will choose to compete with the cryptocurrency industry or incorporate its technology remains to be seen.