Nikita Bier Says Crypto Had a “Rough Year,” Sparks X Speculation

• Nikita Bier says crypto had a rough year and hints at launching something to fix it.
• X Money launches in April with peer-to-peer transfers and a debit card, but no confirmed crypto.
• Bier announced Smart Cashtags in February, letting users trade stocks and crypto on X timeline.

Nikita Bier, a senior product executive at X, posted a message on Monday that sent crypto circles into speculation mode.

“Crypto has had a rough year. Maybe we should launch something to fix it,” he wrote.

Fred Krueger was among the first to respond, calling for native Bitcoin support built directly into X. He wrote, “There’s this thing called ‘Bitcoin.’ It might be a good idea to support it in X natively.”

Others speculated about a centralized exchange or crypto functionality integrated into X’s existing payment infrastructure.

The timing is not coincidental. Bier himself announced Smart Cashtags on February 14, a feature that allows users to trade stocks and crypto directly from the X timeline, building on the platform’s existing cashtag indexing system. The announcement positioned X as a platform actively building toward financial functionality rather than simply indexing market data.

X Money Is Already Coming

The crypto speculation landed one month after Elon Musk confirmed that X Money will launch in April, offering peer-to-peer transfers, bank deposits, a debit card, and cashback rewards. 

The current public details describe X Money as a fiat-based product. No cryptocurrency functionality has been officially confirmed. But Bier’s post, combined with his blockchain background and the Smart Cashtags rollout, has fuelled debate that crypto integration is being planned behind the scenes, even if it was not part of the initial public launch.

The Market Context Behind the Post

Bier’s reference to crypto having a rough year is true. The total crypto market cap collapsed from $4.38 trillion at the end of 2025 to approximately $2.3 trillion by February, erasing over $2 trillion in value. Bitcoin shed 25% in the first two months of the year. The broader altcoin market lost nearly 60% from its peak.

Against that backdrop, a platform with hundreds of millions of daily active users announcing meaningful crypto integration would mean one of the largest retail access points the industry has ever seen.

Whether Bier’s post was a genuine hint, a test of community response, or simply an observation remains unclear. X has not made any official announcement. 

Related: Banks Push Back on White House Stablecoin View, Warn of Deposit Flight Risk