Twitter has announced a division focused squarely on crypto and blockchain technology called ‘Twitter Crypto’, according to a report in TechCrunch. The company has tapped Tess Rinearson to lead the new team and chart the course for the integration of decentralised technologies at Twitter, the report added. Rinearson will be reporting to Twitter’s chief technology officer Parag Agrawal.
The focus will not only be on cryptocurrencies and blockchain but also the development of Web3 which can have wide-ranging implications on the make of the internet as we know today. Web3 can be characterised as an ecosystem in which decentralised apps run on blockchains instead of companies storing user data on central servers run by companies like Amazon Web Services.
I’m thrilled to share that I’ve joined Twitter, to lead a new team focused on crypto, blockchains, and other decentralized technologies—including and going beyond cryptocurrencies.✨ pic.twitter.com/HaP0k5hUOq
— Tess Rinearson (@_tessr) November 10, 2021
Rinearson, in a Twitter thread, also revealed that her division will collaborate with a nascent independent initiative sponsored by Twitter called bluesky whose purpose is to find ways to decentralise social media. The project, consisting of Twitter staffers and others, is looking to come up with a single protocol upon which social platforms and other developers can build their own products, with more interoperability, Financial Times wrote in its report.
The announcement is not surprising given Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s penchant for all things crypto but the formation of a dedicated team means that the social networking service is serious about the potential of crypto.
Twitter’s integration of crypto and blockchain in the past
Twitter has announced several measures in order to make its platform compliant with cryptocurrencies and NFTs:
NFTs: The company recently shared that it was developing an in-app tab called Collectible, which will allow users to show off their NFT collections and holdings on the micro-blogging site, according to NDTV Gadgets. The tab will allow NFT owners to link their crypto wallet from platforms such as Coinbase and MetaMask, the report added.
Related: Everything You Need To Know About The NFT Craze
Tips: Users can support their favourite profiles on Twitter by tipping them using several payment options including cryptocurrencies, the microblogging site announced recently. They will have to download Strike which is a payments application built on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. Tipping is only available in Bitcoin for now.
Dorsey has long maintained that he wants to integrate digital assets into Twitter’s future after he paved the way for bitcoin in his payments company Square two years ago, FT said in its report.
Platforms exploring blockchain technology
Many platforms have previously expressed their desire to permit decentralised apps and embrace web3, The Verge said.
Discord: The gaming chat company’s founder and CEO Jason Citron tweeted that Discord was exploring ways to offer crypto wallet services like MetaMask and WalletConnect, TechCrunch reported. However, plans have been suspended temporarily after facing backlash from its user community.
Reddit: The company is looking for engineers to work on an NFT platform according to a job listing. The role involves working on the design of a platform, building and shipping backend services for millions of users to create, buy, sell and use NFT-backed digital goods, it said.
Also read:
- RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das does not believe the hype around cryptocurrency in India
- Twitter announces plan to share subscriber revenue with news portals in the US
- Cryptocurrency inches closer to mainstream acceptance with the first Bitcoin ETF in US
- Twitter’s own research says that its algorithms play favourites with the political right
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