Twitter is launching a new crypto team dubbed ‘Twitter Crypto.’ The team will be led by Tess Rinearson, who took to Twitter to announce the launch of the new team. The new team will focus on blockchains, crypto, and other decentralized technologies.
Twitter chose Tess Rinearson for the leadership role due to her experience. Rinerason previously worked with Interstellar, a payments provider, where she was a council member. Additionally, she helped develop the Tendermint Core consensus engine while working at Tendermint.
Based in Berlin, Rinearson shared that she has no plans of leaving Germany in light of her new leadership role. She shared that she plans on having a “distributed and cross-cultural” team.
In her tweet, Rinearson shared her excitement to “figure out what crypto can do for Twitter” and vice versa. Twitter crypto will help “push the boundaries” regarding what’s possible with community ownership, identity, and more.
Twitter’s Crypto Journey
The social media giant’s tango with crypto began with the consistent efforts from its CEO to create a core cryptocurrency-focused business unit.
Jack Dorsey has not been shy about his love for cryptocurrency and specifically Bitcoin. Dorsey has even in the past parted with money to aid research for the betterment of the Bitcoin network. Dorsey, alongside other BTC industry players such as Michael Saylor, the head of MicroStrategy, CoinShares, Fidelity Digital Assets, and other BTC industry collectively donated $4 million towards this research.
Back in 2019, Twitter’s CEO made Square Crypto’s first ‘crypto hire.’ Jack Dorsey hired start-up advisor and angel investor Steve Lee as the first member of Square’s crypto-focused division. This division was to consist of a designer and 3-4 engineers.
In July, Jack Dorsey shared his plans to include crypto into Twitter’s existing products and services. While talking to the company’s investors, the CEO and co-founder mentioned that Bitcoin would be a ‘big part’ of Twitter’s future.
Just last month, the social media giant announced the launching of a new feature: Tips function. This feature allows the platform users to gift their favorite influencers Bitcoin tips. The tips function makes use of the Strike-developed Lightning Network solutions.
Currently, the platform’s daily active users, who are roughly 200 million, have the option of adding their Bitcoin addresses to their profiles. Twitter shares are currently trading for $52.39, a 2.27% decline within 24 hours.
Other Companies in Crypto
This latest launch by Twitter comes shortly after Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, shared that the company may soon venture into digital currencies. When asked whether this meant the acceptance of crypto payment, Mr.Cook said, “there are other things they are looking at.”
Tesla is a known company to have ventured into the crypto space. We couldn’t expect less from the company whose CEO, Elon Musk, has been bullish on crypto and especially Bitcoin from the get-go. Tesla disclosed purchasing BTC worth $1.5 billion in February.
Square Inc, led by Mr. Dorsey, is, of course, in the crypto space. The company acquired BTC worth $50 million last year. Lastly, PayPal is another company that has cast its net into the crypto waters.