Stripe announced its return to the cryptocurrency industry in October 2021, after a four-year absence, with the frenzy around cryptocurrencies showing no signs of abating. Six months later, it’s launching a new service — initially with only one partner, Twitter — to get some activity on its network going. Connect, the payments giant’s programmatic (API-based) payouts platform, will now support cryptocurrency payouts, and Twitter will be the first platform to do so. For some context… Twitter already leverages Connect to support a number of revenue options for artists that it now offers or is testing in limited release, such as Tips, Super Follows, and ticketed Spaces events. In 70 countries, Connect is already accessible in local currencies.
Twitter’s monetization service isn’t, but it has the potential to grow in the future. Stripe also provided a set of APIs and other tools for developers to begin integrating Stripe’s crypto capabilities last month. Support for using fiat currencies to acquire more than 135 different crypto tokens (not a fragmented market at all! ), cash-out services, NFT trading, and KYC compliance features was among the features that were rolled out across 180 countries. It will be the first to allow payouts in USDC, a stablecoin tethered to the US dollar, for the Twitter launch.
“Many people who would not otherwise be able to handle dollars will be able to do so,” says Stripe. Payments will be made via the Polygon network, which was chosen partially because of cheap costs, Ethereum integration, and “wide wallet compatibility” that includes MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, and Rainbow, according to the company. “Once authors get their revenue, they have the option of keeping their balance on Polygon or bridging to Ethereum and exchanging it for another currency,” Stripe explained. “As time goes on, we want to expand support for more rails and payment currencies.”
Up until now, Twitter’s focus on creators has mostly been on how to provide methods for artists to monetize services that Twitter already provides to all users, so the addition of crypto is an interesting twist that might indicate how that approach is altering. While including cryptocurrency in the payout options is an obvious move to entice more creators (and potential customers) who are already dabbling or doing more with cryptocurrencies, it also opens the door to using it in conjunction with creators working with more crypto-native content, specifically NFTs.
As Lucas correctly pointed out just yesterday, Twitter has already established itself as the de-facto medium for crypto and NFT discussion. It’s where individuals learn about and discuss their ideas, as well as the projects they’re investing in. Some even believe that link is one of the reasons why Elon Musk — the entrepreneur and occasionally gadabout gadfly who has focused his trollish attention and viral spotlight on bitcoin several times on Twitter — is now interested in buying Twitter.
To be clear, Twitter does not yet offer NFTs in its creator tool choices, but if it decides to do so, it now has the infrastructure to do more than simply enable discourse around them: it could aid with trades. This might put it in direct competition with businesses like Meta, which is apparently developing its own NFT trading platform. The way it goes down will be widely observed for another reason: Meta is causing some controversy in other aspects of the company with how it is building transactions around virtual products.
While Meta is constructing in-house, Twitter, suddenly free of its co-founder and crypto evangelist Jack Dorsey, is outsourcing this. Stripe claims to be managing “all crypto-related complexity and processes” in the Twitter relationship, as well as how developers use it. It says in a statement that “no code modifications are necessary, and platforms may avoid taking on the complexities of obtaining, storing, or transferring crypto themselves.”
Swimming in its lane is absolutely par for the course for Twitter right now, with Musk making an unsolicited bid to purchase the firm. “People use Twitter to talk about what’s going on in the world.” We’re primarily interested in assisting creators who are driving those dialogues in earning money and connecting with their audiences in innovative ways. In a statement, Twitter’s product lead for creators, Esther Crawford, stated, “We’re delighted to begin giving crypto payments to artists via Stripe so they have greater choice in how they get paid.”
