Twitter integrates Strike's wallet to let users receive tips in bitcoin, rolls out Tips globally on iOS, and will explore support for NFT authentication

TechCrunch 2021-09-25 Sarah Perez

Context & Ripple Effects

Twitter had already opened its Tip Jar to English-language users, but access to receiving tips was limited to a selected group. The global iOS rollout broadens that creator-payment feature while Strike supplies the bitcoin wallet connection.

The move also establishes a path beyond a single payment method: Twitter later added Ethereum addresses and additional payment services, while its NFT-authentication exploration ties creator identity to the same platform economy.

First-order effects

Creators using Twitter on iOS can receive bitcoin tips through Strike, expanding the set of users able to accept payments beyond Tip Jar's initial limited recipients.
Strike gains a distribution role inside Twitter's tipping flow, while Twitter makes Tips globally available on iOS and begins evaluating NFT authentication.

Second-order effects

Twitter's later addition of Ethereum addresses and local payment services indicates that bitcoin tipping creates pressure for a broader set of creator payout options rather than a single-wallet endpoint.
TikTok's Stripe-powered Tips and Video Gifts puts competing creator platforms in a race to make in-app monetization more flexible and geographically accessible.

Third-order effects

If social platforms continue to attach payments and identity signals to creator profiles, the value of the social graph shifts toward a transaction layer rather than engagement alone.
Twitter's later pursuit of US payment licenses for a payments-oriented super-app strategy suggests that tipping can serve as an entry point to more regulated financial features.

The trend: Social platforms are turning creator profiles into transaction endpoints, combining tips, payment rails, and portable digital identity signals.

Discussion

Twitter Esther Crawford on x
Bringing Tips to everyone
help.twitter.com help.twitter.com on x
About Tips and Tipping — What is Tips? — Tips is a feature that lets you add links …
@jackmallers Jack Mallers on x
I just published Announcing the Strike API Today, @Twitter enables free, instant, global payments for their users with their integration of the Strike API. What the internet did for communication, #Bitcoin + the Lightning Network is doing for money. https://link.medium.com/... ht…
@twittersupport @twittersupport on x
Looking to get a little support with tips? Tips is now rolling out to everyone (18+) on iOS. Add the Tips icon to your profile from the “Edit profile” button. 💸 https://twitter.com/...
@kellycnbc Kelly Evans on x
👀 “This payment network is no Paypal; it solves one of Twitter's largest problems and addresses one of the most outdated problems for the World Wide Web as a whole.” https://jimmymow.medium.com/ ...
@michael_saylor @michael_saylor on x
#Bitcoin on #Lightning⚡️ is the future of global payments. https://twitter.com/...
@iamdcinvestor DCinvΞstor on x
the problem with tipping is there's not much reason to transact on this site i guess you can charge for access to articles? spaces? idk what. even then, USD seems a better currency than BTC but trading NFTs and other digital assets? well, that'd be a lot more interesting tbh
@esthercrawford Esther Crawford on x
Starting today, we're rolling out Tips to everyone on iOS globally and bringing it to people on Android in the coming weeks. 🧵 https://blog.twitter.com/...
@thecryptolark Lark Davis on x
Twitter is using #bitcoin Reddit is using #ethereum Facebook is still trying to launch its walled garden BS after 3 years, lol
@alexbosworth Alex Bosworth on x
Amazing how quickly Twitter tipping integration has come together. If you think about companies who shall not be named but talk a big game about BTC and earn big time on it are all still slowly making progress on LN integrations, Twitter shows it just takes commitment to ship it.
@prestonpysh Preston Pysh on x
A MUST WATCH. https://twitter.com/...
@knutsvanholm Knut Svanholm on x
I'm jacked! https://twitter.com/...
@surferjimw @surferjimw on x
Imagine how everyone but NY'ers can use @ln_strike like normal adults, but our overlords here in the “Empire State” are protecting us from all this dangerous innovation- because they know what we need more than we do. I feel so safe now.☹️ https://twitter.com/...
@dankvr Jin on x
“NFT authentication will come in the form of a badge, shown on profile pictures, marking the owner's NFT as authentic,” a company spokesperson said. NFT pfps are the new blue checkmark https://twitter.com/...
@cburniske Chris Burniske on x
.@twitter tipping, including w/ $BTC, live on iOS soon. @jmonegro has pointed out the ruling in Epic's favor that @apple cannot require in-app txns to go through the App Store is an important gateway opening for #crypto. Gateway opening quickly... https://www.coindesk.com/...
@seedphrase Danny on x
This is incredibly bullish news for NFTs/web3. All of those million dollar plus sales look genius now. I'm ready for my verification tick 😎 https://twitter.com/...
@panzer @panzer on x
Twitter is planning to ‘explore’ support for NFT authentication https://techcrunch.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@apompliano Pomp on x
Never bet against @jackmallers and the team at Strike 🔥🔥 https://twitter.com/...
@jeffbooth Jeff Booth on x
Awesome @Jack and @jackmallers!! Technology lowers costs and improves lives as a result. Rising prices are an artifact of a system that of the past. The world is changing fast. #Bitcoin https://twitter.com/...
@carlosdomingo Carlos Domingo on x
Twitter has done more new features and iterations in the last 12 months than in the last 12 years. https://techcrunch.com/...
@elliotturn Elliot Turner on x
TWTR is getting serious here! A lot of focus on the Bitcoin & NFT stuff, but wow am I happy to see the creator fund (though wish it were combined w/ Bitcoin in my Twittercoin idea...) https://twitter.com/...!!! https://techcrunch.com/...
@brian_armstrong Brian Armstrong on x
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/ ... Huge if true. I imagine we will see crypto integrated into most social media apps in the next 5 years. Reddit has already started in this direction. We will also see brand new decentralized social media apps.
@mdudas Mike Daodas on x
lol, “ethereum” is still the forbidden word at @jack's companies https://techcrunch.com/...
@jowyang Jeremiah Owyang on x
Twitter continues to innovate. Continual new products and programs. Ht @susanbeebe https://techcrunch.com/...
@manishm Manish Maheshwari on x
Tipping feature on Twitter - now called ✨Tips✨ - is rolling out in all markets with more payment options to choose from - even #Crypto https://blog.twitter.com/...
@pablostanley Pablo Stanley on x
Seems like Twitter plans to have some kind of NFT authentication 😮 ... perhaps they'll allow GIF avatars too? one can hope! https://www.theverge.com/...
@blowdart Barry Dorrans on x
LOL no way this will go wrong. None whatsoever. https://www.theverge.com/...
@martinsfp Martin Sfp Bryant on x
More important than Bitcoin tips, Twitter is rolling out tip jars to all users, starting today on iOS and in the coming weeks on Android. https://twitter.com/...
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
If people are spending thousands of dollars of profile pictures (NFTs) to flex on Twitter, it seems obvious that Twitter should officially support showing that you're the owner of that CryptoPunk or Bored Ape in your pfp. I believe NFTs are here to stay https://techcrunch.com/...

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