Twitter clearly wants its popular users to make bank and the addition of the Tip Jar earlier this year has provided the path for this as the feature allows users to directly send money to support content creators. While it currently only accepts regular cash transfers, a new leak has revealed details on how the platform is working on adding cryptocurrency support for tips.
On Wednesday, leakster and mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi shared a screenshot of what appears to be a notification for the option of receiving tips on Tip Jar using Strike’s Lightning Network, a service for sending and receiving Bitcoin. Soon after the leak, Twitter’s product lead Kayvon Beykpour confirmed the implementation and hints that it will be coming soon.
Following that, Alessandro shared another leak earlier today that shows Twitter working on a payment option for Ethereum which is the cryptocurrency with the second-largest market capitalisation after Bitcoin. The latest leak also revealed that creators do not need to link their Strike account, but rather, it would allow users to directly use their Bitcoin and Ethereum wallet address.
#Twitter is working to allow you to add your #Bitcoin and #Ethereum address to your profile to receive tips via the Tip Jar feature 👀
ℹ️ It is not necessary to link a Strike account to add them to your profile. pic.twitter.com/xT9Tg1vdzR
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) September 2, 2021
According to Strike’s website, the service allows users to make crypto micropayments faster and more importantly, for free. At the moment, Twitter’s Tip Jar uses payment services such as PayPal, Patreon, Venmo, Bandcamp, and Cash App.
Using third-party payment services allows Tip Jar to circumvent Apple’s 30% commission fee for in-app purchases, meaning that Twitter won’t take a cut from creators. That being said, Twitter does add a reminder that the payment services themselves may charge fees.
(Source: Alessandro Paluzzi / Twitter.)
