Twitter CEO Elon Musk has reportedly instructed his developers to build the platform's payment system in such a way that encryption capabilities could be added in the future.
The payments feature will support fiat currencies at launch, but will support cryptocurrencies when the opportunity arises, two people familiar with Twitter’s plans said, the Financial Times reported on Jan. 30.
Twitter has long mocked the introduction of payments functionality to the social media platform as part of Musk's stated plan to make Twitter a "universal app." However, whether these payments involve blockchain or encryption technology remains ambiguous, although the Twitter CEO sees an important role for encryption on Twitter.
In early December, leaked images revealed “Twitter Coin” a secretive digital asset in development for payments and tips on the platform that many hoped would involve encryption in some way. However, a recent leaked image of the project in early January made no mention of encryption or blockchain technology, much to the dismay of the community.
Unconfirmed rumors also surfaced last October that Twitter was developing a prototype wallet that would support cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals. For now, however, it appears that the payment system will only proceed with fiat backing.
Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency previously launched by Musk surged in price after Monday’s announcement, taking the coin from $0.08 to $0.09. According to data from CoinGecko, the price of DOGE has fallen back to about $0.08.
DOGE continues to be influenced by Musk, with its price rising when he succeeds and falling when he struggles.
