Elon Musk’s X is planning to add a Smart Cashtags feature for cryptocurrencies next month, which could allow users to buy and sell crypto directly from the social media platform. However, details about the in-app trading feature remain unclear.
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Another Step Towards Making Crypto Mainstream
In an X post yesterday (Sunday), the social media platform’s Head of Product, Nikita Bier, revealed that Smart Cashtags would allow X users to “specify the exact asset (or smart contract) when posting a ticker.”
“From the timeline, users will be able to tap them to see their real-time price, along with all mentions of that asset,” he added.
The social media platform is aiming for a public release of this new feature next month.
Although Bier did not mention anything about in-app trading, a screenshot of the Smart Cashtag shared by him included buy and sell buttons. However, it remains unclear how in-app trading on X would work, including whether trades would be routed to a third-party crypto exchange.
X has about 700 million active users worldwide. A direct crypto trading feature on the platform could make crypto more accessible to a large user base. However, localisation and infrastructure challenges remain unclear.
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Re-Purpose of an Old Feature
The Cashtag feature on X is not new. The platform first added this feature in December 2022 to show price charts for Bitcoin, Ether, and other top stocks and exchange-traded funds. The feature was initially introduced in partnership with TradingView and later with eToro to add price charts and additional data.
The latest announcement of Smart Cashtags appears to be another step in Musk’s plan to turn X into an all-in-one app, where financial services will play a key role. The platform has also secured money transmission licences in about two dozen US states, but has yet to launch any payment-related features.
In mid-last year, media reports suggested that X was preparing to roll out trading and payment features as part of a broader push into financial services. As part of this plan, X intends to introduce X Money, a digital wallet and peer-to-peer payment service. The platform is expected to launch first in the United States, with Visa as its initial partner.
