Twitter Embraces Crypto with Dedicated Team

It's time for Twitter Crypto... social media giant Twitter is creating a team dedicated to cryptocurrency and related tech, it has been announced.

Taking to the platform on Wednesday, Tess Rinearson confirmed she has been appointed to lead the new team.

She said Twitter Crypto will explore future opportunities to support users with an interest in cryptocurrency and digital assets as it looks to ‘push the boundaries’.

A New Team for Crypto

Rinearson, who has previously worked at Interstellar and Tendermint, tweeted: ‘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.

‘As I build out the team, we’ll be working to figure out what crypto can do for Twitter, as well as what Twitter can do for crypto. Twitter truly “gets” crypto (hello bitcoin tipping & NFTs!) but there’s so much more to explore here.

‘First, we’ll be exploring how we can support the growing interest among creators to use decentralised apps to manage virtual goods and currencies, and to support their work and communities.

‘Looking farther ahead, we’ll be exploring how ideas from crypto communities can help us push the boundaries of what’s possible with identity, community, ownership and more.

‘And, of course, we’ll be working closely with the @bluesky team to help shape the future of decentralized social media (and to make sure that Twitter stays on the cutting edge of this new landscape, too!).’

She concluded: ‘Twitter Crypto will underpin all of this work, and serve as a “center of excellence” for all things blockchain at Twitter. We’ll be hiring for roles in engineering and product. If this sounds exciting, please get in touch!’

Jack Dorsey Influences Crypto Adoption

The Twitter Crypto move isn’t entirely a surprise, given founder Jack Dorsey’s public position on crypto. His firm Square Crypto made its first appointment back in 2019, former Google product management expert Steve Lee, for example.

In addition, Square last year bought $50m of BTC and, in July, it said it is trying to buld a hardware wallet.

Dorsey has already said Bitcoin will be a big part of his commercial future. Earlier this year, he confirmed he was putting money forward to help fund BTC development, both in a venture which also involved rapper Jay-Z and through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).