Nikita Bier, X's head of product, has made a statement that could be interpreted as a hint at the company's plans to launch something new to address the challenges faced by the crypto industry this year. His post, which gained over 677,000 views in a matter of hours, read: "Crypto has had a rough year.
Maybe we should launch something to fix it." This comes as Elon Musk's fiat payments app, X Money, is set to go live 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. Although the details of X Money's underlying technology are unclear, it is known to be a fiat-based product with no confirmed crypto functionality. However, the company has not ruled out the possibility of incorporating blockchain technology in the future. The recent hiring of Benji Taylor, Aave's former Chief Product Officer, has also sparked speculation about the potential direction of X Money.
Taylor's experience in designing successful products could be an asset in developing a user-friendly and efficient payments system. Whether X Money will compete with crypto for users or eventually integrate crypto rails remains to be seen. For now, the crypto industry waits with anticipation for its next catalyst, unsure whether it will come from within or from external platforms like X.