In October of 2021, the company announced that it would be reentering the market after a four-year hiatus. Today, some six months later, it is rolling out a new service, initially with one partner, to get some activity going on its network. The payments giant is adding a new feature to its payouts platform, called Connect, which will allow people to get payouts incryptocurrencies.
For some background, the social network already uses Connect to power various monetization services aimed at creators that it is already offering or testing out in limited release, which include things like Tips, Super Follows, and ticketed Spaces events. In 70 countries, connect is available in local currency. The potential to expand is given by the fact that the service is not monetized.
Last month, Stripe released a series of tools for developers to integrate its features. Know Your Customer (KYC), cash-out facilities, NFT trading, and compliance features were some of the functions that were rolled out across 180 countries.
It will be the first stable coin to support payouts in the US dollar. Payouts will take place over the Polygon network, it said, partly chosen because of low fees and broad wallet compatibility.
Adding in cryptocurrencies is an interesting twist that could point to how the strategy of giving creators ways of monetizing services that are already offered to all users is shifting.
Adding in cryptocurrencies to the payouts options is an obvious move to entice more creators who are already dabbling or doing more with cryptocurrencies, but it also opens the door to using them in connection with creators working with more NFTs.
Lucas pointed out yesterday that the defacto platform for conversation around NFTs is on the micro-blogging site. It is where people find out about the projects they are investing in. Some think that the connection is why Musk is interested in buying the social network.
NFTs are not something that Twitter is already supporting in its selection of creator tools, but should it decide to make a move here, it now has the infrastructure to do more than just enable chatter around them: it could help with trades. It would put it closer to companies like Meta, which is working on an NFT trading platform. Meta is drawing some controversy around how it is developing transactions around virtual goods in other parts of its business.
Meta's building in-house, but it's not the only one taking the outsourcing route. It will be handling all of the complexity and operations of the partnership.
Under the gun with a bid from Musk to buy the company, swimming in its lane is definitely par for Twitter. We help creators who drive those conversations earn money and connect with their audiences in new ways. Esther Crawford, the product lead for creators, said in a statement that they are excited to begin offering payouts in the new world ofCryptocurrencies.
The plan for Stripe is to support payouts in over 120 countries.
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