Will Twitter, led by Musk, become a Web3 platform?

If nothing unexpected happens, Tesla CEO Elon Musk will complete the acquisition of Twitter by this Friday.

It is reported that the banks that provided a total of $13 billion in debt financing for the transaction have completed the drafting of the final credit agreement and have now reached the stage of signing documents. People familiar with the matter said that Elon Musk even promised in a conference call that he would help banks promote bonds to fund managers after the acquisition of Twitter is completed, and Binance CEO Zhao Changpeng also publicly stated that he would provide financial support for Elon Musk.

Coincidentally, just one day before Elon Musk finalized the acquisition of Twitter, there was news that the social media giant was developing a cryptocurrency wallet that supports deposits and withdrawals. People can't help but wonder, if Elon Musk really completes the acquisition on Friday, will Twitter become a Web3 platform that supports crypto wallets in the future?

Twitter's crypto plans extend beyond wallets

On October 25, well-known technology blogger Jane Manchun Wong disclosed on social media that Twitter is developing its own cryptocurrency wallet, and that "the wallet prototype already supports cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals." So far, Twitter has not made an official response to the information disclosed by Jane Manchun Wong, nor has it publicly announced any such products. Although it is not clear where Jane Manchun Wong obtained the relevant information, based on her previous experience, she may have found this clue from the public code.

In fact, as early as a year ago, Twitter began exploring the introduction of various cryptocurrency-related features on its platform.

● In September 2021, it was announced that it would launch a “tipping” service supporting Bitcoin (support for Ethereum will follow in 2022);

● In November 2021, integrate Web3 dApp;

● In January 2022, users will be allowed to link their Ethereum wallets to their Twitter accounts and select NFTs in their wallets and set them as their Twitter avatars;

● In October 2022, in collaboration with OpenSea , Rarible, Magic Eden, Dapper Labs , etc., we launched a “Tweet Tiles” feature for NFTs, enabling developers and collectors to expand the NFT experience by creating posts and enhancing visual displays, and embed “Call to Action” buttons to promote sales.

Moreover, during the acquisition of Twitter, Elon Musk once boasted that he would solve the spam problem on the platform and consider using crypto micropayments. You will find that all the above functions are inseparable from the support of crypto wallets. If Twitter launches its own crypto wallet, it will undoubtedly greatly reduce the complexity of transactions and improve ease of use, and will also turn this social media network based on content creation into a mature Web3 platform.

Twitter can make Web3 better

Looking at the major global technology giants today, Apple has turned a blind eye to cryptocurrency, Meta has focused on the virtual world of the Metaverse, and Amazon has made almost no achievements in the blockchain market (but indirectly provides AWS services). In comparison, Twitter can be regarded as the Internet giant with the greatest influence in the Web3 world.

Frankly speaking, Twitter has more or less inherited the decentralized spirit of its founder Jack Dorsey, so its layout in the Web3 market is more forward-looking. The biggest feature of Web2 social media is the "walled garden". If you open an account on Twitter, you need to start with zero followers, and the accumulated fan base cannot be moved to other platforms. Web3 introduces a solution to reduce the number of intermediaries, create an open ecosystem to achieve a new form of digitalization, and give individuals more power to control content - this new model will undoubtedly inject new vitality into Twitter and may even further expand its user base.

On the other hand, if we refer to Reddit's recent success in the Web3 field, it may not be so surprising that Twitter is accelerating its layout of Web3. Reddit's second batch of Avatar NFT collectible avatars sold out within 24 hours of launch, and the transaction volume exceeded US$7 million in a short period of time, attracting more than 3 million users to use Reddit's Vault wallet to create encrypted addresses (2.5 million of which were created to purchase NFTs launched by Reddit). In fact, Twitter took the lead in launching the NFT avatar setting function as early as September 2021. You must know that compared to the Reddit platform with 52 million daily active users, Twitter has 126 million daily active users. Therefore, if Twitter can "learn from" Reddit's successful experience, it is likely to greatly promote the adoption of Web3.

It is undeniable that Web3 still has a long way to go at this stage, and it needs to be promoted by platforms such as Twitter and Reddit that believe in the spirit of open source, transparency, and equality. Although it is still in its early stages, more and more Web3 supporters are working hard to preach and build infrastructure. I believe that the era when Internet users have more rights will soon come.