X Eyes Stablecoins to Tip Creators — Musk's Platform Joins the $300B Rails 🪙

Social media platform X is in talks to explore how stablecoins, including Circle Internet's USDC ($CRCL closed at $83.78), can be used to pay royalties to influential users for uploading content, according to a person familiar with the plans. The person, who also works with other social media platforms testing stablecoins as a way to pay commissions to influencers, said conversations with X are ongoing. Media representatives of X did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Stablecoins, which have a collective market cap of over $300 billion, have become a core infrastructure for blockchain payments, enabling faster and cheaper cross-border transactions for small businesses and multinational corporations moving large sums between subsidiaries. Musk's SpaceX already uses stablecoins to collect cross-border payments from Starlink customers, the satellite internet service operating in various emerging markets.

In March, Musk hired crypto veteran Benji Taylor as head of design at X, a role tied to both xAI and SpaceX. Taylor previously led design at Coinbase Global ($COIN closed at $171.85) for the Base blockchain network and has a background in wallets and decentralized finance. The company said it is overhauling how it pays creators through a new system called the Original Content Rewards Program, phasing out its long-running Revenue Sharing program. The new program is designed to "reward creators who bring original ideas, expertise, reporting, creativity, and commentary to X," the company said.