Twitter is leading the charge of Bitcoin adoption, as recent leaks from Mobile Developer Alessandro Paluzzi provide insights into the future of social media. While currently in a beta phase, Twitter appears to be rolling out a Bitcoin tipping service on the app, allowing anyone to send BTC to creators for insightful posts. The best part about it is that the integration will utilize the lightning network, meaning payments will be made near-instantly, and fees for transactions will be virtually non-existent.
The lightning network allows for tiny micro-payments in BTC, meaning there could very well be a lot of activity on the service as people will think of 1 Dollar BTC tips the same as leaving a tip for a worker at an ice cream shop. Rumors suggest that the integration will be via Strike’s Lightning Network application, utilizing the layer 2 protocol. While still in a testnet mode, Jack Dorsey’s first step with Twitter into the Bitcoin world seems to be.
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In the past, he has made it very clear that Bitcoin would be a part of Twitter’s future. Another venture of his aspires to build the first decentralized DeFi exchange on top of the Bitcoin network, yet it is unclear how Twitter will play into that. Others speculate that Bitcoin will soon be added to Twitter’s balance sheet, copying moves made by Elon Musk at Tesla and Michael Saylor at Microstrategy.
The leak also appeared to have a tip jar for Ethereum, which is a surprising move by Twitter considering Dorsey’s past reluctance to endorse Ethereum. However, with gas fees currently very high, it is hard to imagine the Ethereum tipping service would be on layer 1, so they will likely utilize a layer 2 solution for that service. With the booming NFT ecosystem on Twitter, this is a very smart move by Dorsey. It remains unclear how much Twitter will profit from this service, but it is near certain they will add tiny fees to make this a profitable project.
Twitter is a bustling ecosystem within the NFT world, with thousands of people displaying their NFTs as their profile pictures on the app. Even professional athletes are starting to buy into the hype, as we recently saw Stephen Curry purchase an NFT from Bored Ape Yacht Club and display it as his profile picture. Odell Beckham Jr. also did the same, suggesting that recent efforts by the crypto community, such as FTX’s aggressive advertisement and endorsement push in the sports world, are paying off.
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Twitter’s move to incorporate Bitcoin seems to be the first step in integrating the native currency of the internet into social media platforms, and it’ll be exciting to see if other platforms follow suit. If this pays off, it could prove to be a symbiotic relationship for both Bitcoin adoption and Twitter, as more people are likely to hear about Bitcoin after this move and look into it themselves. In turn, Twitter would reap more profits from the service as people start using it.
