Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) is letting users send and receive tips using Bitcoin as part of a broader push into cryptocurrencies.
Twitter is also planning to authenticate users’ nonfungible tokens (NFTs), which are digital goods ranging from high art to pictures of professional athletes. Some users already showcase NFTs on their Twitter profiles, but there’s no easy way to authenticate if the person displaying a picture actually owns the NFT.
The cryptocurrency updates are part of a strategy at Twitter to attract creators by giving them more ways to share their work on the service, and more ways to make money. Twitter has offered a tipping feature for months, but it has been in a limited test. The company says it’s now rolling out tipping globally.
The company also offers some creators a subscription tool called "Super Follows," that lets them charge others on the service for exclusive content.
Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey is a major Bitcoin enthusiast, often tweeting about the cryptocurrency and promoting it to his followers. He has said it could be the internet’s first "native currency."
Dorsey is also a big believer in decentralization -- or taking control away from one single group or company and spreading it out among many people. Twitter is funding a project called "Bluesky" that is looking into building decentralized features for social media.
Nonfungible tokens are a key part of that decentralized version of the internet and has exploded in popularity and price this year. Daily NFT sales peaked in August at $267.6 million U.S., according to tracker NonFungible.
Many NFTs have sold for millions of dollars, and Twitter has created some NFTs of its own and given them away to users.
