Twitter Might Soon Launch “Coins” for photographers and creators

Apparently, the social media platform Twitter is working on an in-app currency that will let photographers and other creators earn directly on the site.

That Twitter, now owned by Tesla founder and cryptocurrency fan Elon Musk, should now be working on a project like this isn’t too surprising. However, we don’t yet know how likely it is in terms of a near-future release.

The definite thing, at least for now, is that this still-unreleased feature was recently spotted in-development by app researchers Nima Owji and Jane Manchin Wong earlier this week.

One of the two researchers tweeted that he believes Twitter is again working on Twitter Coins because he spotted a new item called “Coins” in Twitter’s navbar menu. He also noted other placeholders for monetization and tips in the Twitter interface.

#Twitter keeps working on Twitter Coins!

They’ve added an item named “Coins” to the navbar menu. https://t.co/v6ZWTdlMVY pic.twitter.com/ytvvz17nfp

— Nima Owji (@nima_owji) January 10, 2023

Another thing that Owji noted was a text under the “Coins” option that specifically states, “Coins allow you to support creators who Tweet great content. Unused coins are kept in your balance.”

Below that is a button option for buying said Coins. In other words, though Twitter hasn’t made any formal announcements about any of this yet, it seems to be a real thing that might be on the way.

The Coins in question are likely an in-app currency that’s going to be promoted throughout the social media platform and integrated with Twitter’s existing tipping components.

None of the above clarifies whether these coins will be a real blockchain-based cryptocurrency token, likely built on top of the Ethereum platform, or something else entirely that’s native to Twitter’s own system.

Another screenshot, this time posted by Jane Manchun Wong, shows that Twitter is working on a purchasing system for Coins, which will let users of the platform buy them through the Stripe Payments platform apparently.
On the web, Twitter Coins purchases will be done through Stripe

https://t.co/RFpWswnZfG pic.twitter.com/eAzPWjfoye

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) January 10, 2023

Wong’s discoveries include a screenshot that breaks down how different reactions, or “Awards” on Twitter are valued in Coins and a Coins menu item for letting users buy these tokens.

Here’s the list of Twitter Awards: https://t.co/PpgHebBWD6 pic.twitter.com/BePDVAkzhy

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) January 5, 2023

Twitter hasn’t announced anything formal about these features and we don’t know how much each coin will cost to buy or what it will be worth in cash terms on the platform.

It’s also unclear whether the upcoming tokens will be transferable to other crypto exchange platforms for conversion into other tokens.

If Musk and Twitter do indeed release these Coins as blockchain tokens, the weight of the billionaire and his newly acquired major social media company behind them would definitely make the new Coins more likely to gain traction even on other crypto exchanges.

If a feature like this, using crypto coins that can be exchanged for cash, were to take off, photographers and other creators showcasing their work and projects on Twitter could have an easy, highly cash-convertible way of turning attention and appreciation directly into real earnings.

This is something any photographer could look forward to, assuming it works and gains traction among users.

Elon Musk himself has explained that Twitter, which he recently bought in a massive $40 billion dollar deal, is losing money at a ravenous pace of $4 million dollars per day.

The Tesla and SpaceX founder has since been searching for new ways to monetize the platform and also reward creators of content who use it.

We’ll see if this new Coins feature actually becomes a public feature.

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