Key takeaways:
- X is in talks to explore paying royalties to influential users in stablecoins such as USDC
- Musk’s SpaceX already uses stablecoins to collect cross-border payments for Starlink
- X is separately overhauling its creator payment system, replacing Revenue Sharing with a new Original Content Rewards Program
Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) is in talks to explore how stablecoins could be used to pay royalties to influential users for uploading content, according to a person familiar with the plans.
The conversations are ongoing, said the person, who also works with other social media platforms testing stablecoins as a way to pay commissions to influencers.
The discussions center on tokens such as Circle Internet’s USDC. Media representatives of X did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Stablecoins, which carry a collective market capitalization of more than $300 billion, have become a staple of blockchain payments, facilitating faster and cheaper cross-border transactions for users ranging from small businesses to multinationals moving money between subsidiaries.
Musk’s other companies have already moved on stablecoins
X’s interest in stablecoin payouts follows a similar move at Musk’s SpaceX, which already uses stablecoins to collect cross-border payments from customers of Starlink, its satellite internet service operating in various emerging markets. The overlap suggests stablecoin infrastructure built for one Musk company may be informing strategy at another.
X has also been building out its internal capabilities in this area. In March, the company hired crypto veteran Benji Taylor as head of design, a role spanning X, xAI and SpaceX.
Taylor previously led design at Coinbase’s Base blockchain network and brings a background in crypto wallets and decentralized finance, expertise that aligns closely with the kind of payment infrastructure stablecoin payouts would require.
A broader overhaul of how X pays creators
The stablecoin discussions come as X overhauls its creator payment system more broadly. The company recently announced it is phasing out its long-running Revenue Sharing program in favor of a new system called the Original Content Rewards Program.
X said the new program is designed to “reward creators who bring original ideas, expertise, reporting, creativity, and commentary to X.”
Whether stablecoins become part of that new payment structure remains unclear, but the timing suggests X is reassessing both how much it pays creators and the underlying payment rails it uses to do so, at a moment when stablecoin adoption is accelerating across major platforms and payment providers globally.