Twitter has started building a new team that will focus on decentralizing the social media platform and enabling blockchain-powered solutions on the online service. The company might start this by introducing crypto payments and NFT sale options to its users.
The announcement comes through a new tweet by Tess Rinearson, the engineer who has joined Twitter to lead its crypto efforts.
In a thread posted to Twitter, Rinearson revealed what the new team will be getting up to with the development of decentralized apps high on the priority list. The workgroup will also explore the promise of “decentralized social media” which could see social networks like Twitter operating independently on the blockchain with users responsible for governance.
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
“First, we’ll be exploring how we can support the growing interest among creators to use decentralized apps to manage virtual goods and currencies, and to support their work and communities,” Rinearson said.
The social media firm is expected to start its crypto journey with an option for Bitcoin (or with other crypto) payments or NFT sales for creators.
Twitter’s move in this direction is more of a boost to the world of cryptocurrency than to Twitter as a social media platform.
Twitter is one of the top technology establishments in the world, its trust on blockchain and cryptocurrencies establishes a much-needed legitimacy to crypto that is still questioned in many parts of the world.
Previously Rinearson worked at the Interchain Foundation, which focusses on building open-source infrastructure for many leading blockchain networks, including Cosmos. She studied computer science at the University of Pennsylvania and Carnegie Mellon University, but dropped out to join the early team at Medium
