Twitter is expanding its interest in cryptocurrency, building out an entire team focused on exploring cryptocurrency, blockchain and other decentralized technologies.
Software engineer Tess Rinearson has been named as the head of the new division and outlined her vision for Twitter Crypto in a series of tweets:
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
Rinearson said Twitter Crypto will work closely with Bluesky, a Twitter team devoted to building a decentralized social network protocol, and will serve as a “‘center of excellence’” for all things blockchain at Twitter.”
“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,” she wrote. “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. 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.”
The team is currently hiring for roles in engineering and product.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has been a vocal supporter of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, selling his first-ever tweet as an NFT for $2.9 million USD in March. He has also frequently touted Bitcoin’s widespread global uses and has even tried his hand at Bitcoin mining. The site also recently rolled out Bitcoin tipping and has announced plans to let users authenticate their NFTs.
In other news, Twitter has launched its subscription service Twitter Blue that allows users to unsend tweets.
