WeChat

Telegram is becoming a one-stop app like China’s WeChat — Bitget CEO

November 7, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Elon Musk to rebrand Twitter to X, but Crypto Twitter has other ideas

July 24, 2023 Coin Telegraph

One pitch from Axie Infinity’s co-founder said to keep Twitter but have a crypto wallet named X for spending and creator tipping.

Twitter users, along with the avid crypto community, may soon see a very different version of the social media app — which is set to ditch its iconic blue bird logo for an “X” as part of a major rebrand.

Crypto Twitter hasn’t been particularly thrilled with some of the changes, however.

In a series of tweets on July 23, Musk hinted that the platform will be rebranded to “X” as early as Monday, an early step in its eventual transformation to an “everything app.”

The rebrand could involve changing Twitter’s color scheme to black, the removal of Twitter’s blue bird logo, and a name change to X, according to Musk’s various tweets and a poll.

And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2023

The website used to access the social media platform may also change, with Musk confirming that X.com, the online address for his 1999-founded financial services start-up that sold to PayPal, now redirecting to Twitter.

According to the Wayback Machine, Prior to the change, x.com was a mostly blank website that simply displayed the letter "x." Prior to that, it had redirected to Musk's Boring Company website. The website URL also had a long stint in the early 2000s pointing to PayPal and even had a stint displaying eBay's corporate site.

In March, Musk also established the tech firm X Corp. as Twitter’s parent company partly to realize his vision for the WeChat-like app.

Crypto Twitter calls rebrand decision ‘insane’

However, not many Crypto Twitter users have been thrilled with the proposed changes. Twitter has been a stronghold for the crypto community with over 1 billion tweets about crypto between 2020 and 2022 according to a March Hypebeast r eport.

Trust Machines marketing chief Dan Held said Twitter was “iconic,” adding Musk was “insane” to rebrand to X.

Others have been resistant to the proposed X rebrand. Crypto blogger Tiffany Fong said she’s “still callin it twitter” which podcast host Peter McCormack agreed with.

I stand with you Tiffany
— Peter McCormack‍☠️ (@PeterMcCormack) July 23, 2023

There were, however, some supportive of the idea saying the super-app has been Musk's vision since leaving PayPal and point to Musk's October tweet that implicitly said his Twitter purchase was the accelerant to creating X.

Others have been pitching their own ideas on how Musk should move ahead with X. Axie Infinity co-founder Jeff “Jiho” Zirlin said to keep the Twitter name but add a crypto wallet called X to allow users to spend and tip platform creators.

/imagine

Keep it named twitter. Add a wallet called X. Let people spend and tip. Keep the new creator earnings within the twitter community as a circular economy.

Add bitcoin and eth transfers to the wallet.

Mass adoption. pic.twitter.com/4lcxlPnW15
— The Jiho.eth (@Jihoz_Axie) July 23, 2023

Meanwhile, in a July 23 post, Twitter chief Linda Yaccarino added more clues about X, saying it would have “unlimited interactivity,” support multiple media formats, and feature payments and banking — a feature that Musk has reportedly said he wants to support crypto.

Without specifying how Yaccarino said the upcoming app would also be powered by artificial intelligence, though Musk has previously said AI would be used to detect manipulation of public opinion.

X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayacc) July 23, 2023

The rebrand comes as Musk admitted on July 15 that Twitter’s advertising revenue had dropped by 50% and the firm had a heavy debt load, although it’s unknown over what timeframe the revenue drop occurred.

Magazine: Tokenizing music royalties as NFTs could help the next Taylor Swift

China’s Wechat Adds Support for Digital Yuan Payments

March 8, 2023 Bitcoin.com

WeChat integrates digital yuan into its payment platform

March 7, 2023 Coin Telegraph

CBDC

Chinese social media platform WeChat has incorporated the digital yuan in its payment app to boost the CBDC’s popularity.

WeChat, China’s leading social networking and payment app, has added the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), to its payment services, according to reports in local media. The move aims to help broaden the appeal of the digital yuan.

WeChat now supports the fast payment function of the digital yuan wallet, making it the second payment platform to do so after Alipay.

This feature enables users to use the digital yuan for payments on certain WeChat mini-programs and other platforms. The pilot version of the digital yuan application’s “Wallet Quick Payment Management” page currently lists 94 merchant platforms that can be accessed, now including WeChat. WeChat Pay now allows digital yuan payments on certain apps, such as ordering food from McDonald’s and paying bills.

Users must authorize the digital yuan wallet operator to sync their WeChat-bound mobile phone number for successful activation of the WeChat payment wallet fast payment function. Once activated, payments to digital yuan-supporting merchants can be made through the WeChat app. Additional integrations are expected to become available gradually.

“Chinese consumers are so locked in WeChat Pay and Alipay, it’s not realistic to convince them to switch to a new mobile payment app,” said Linghao Bao, an analyst at Trivium China, a strategic advisory firm. “So it makes sense for the central bank to team up with WeChat Pay and Alipay as opposed to doing it on its own.”

The digital yuan, also known as the e-CNY, is being piloted in at least 26 Chinese provinces and cities. The token saw a jump in transaction volumes on Chinese e-commerce platforms during the 2023 Lunar New Year shopping season, helped by e-CNY handouts from authorities.

In December 2022, Alipay announced its access to the digital yuan acceptance network, allowing users to spend digital yuan consumption on platforms served by Alipay, including Taobao, Shanghai Bus, Ele.me, Youbao, Tmall Supermarket and Hema.

Report: Nearly 13,000 Chinese Social Media Accounts Promoting Virtual Currency Closed

August 10, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Chinese Tech Giant Tencent to Shut Down NFT Platform Amid Trading Restrictions

July 22, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Wechat to Prohibit Accounts From Providing Some NFT and Crypto Services

June 22, 2022 Bitcoin.com

China’s WeChat bans crypto and NFT-related accounts

June 21, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The policy also covers secondary NFT trading as the firm notes that “accounts that provide services or content related to the secondary transaction of digital collections shall also be dealt with.”

The top social media platform in China, WeChat, has updated its policies to ban accounts that provide access to crypto or NFT-related services.

Under the new guidelines, accounts involved with the issuance, trading, and financing of crypto and NFTs will be either restricted or banned and will fall under the “illegal business” category.

The policy also covers secondary NFT trading, with the firm noting that “accounts that provide services or content related to the secondary transaction of digital collections shall also be dealt with in accordance with this article.”

The move was highlighted by Hong Kong-based crypto news reporter Wu Blockchain (Colin Wu) on June 20, as he pointed out the significance of the action given that WeChat has more than 1.1 billion daily users in China.

WeChat with more than 1.1 billion daily active users in China, has updated its rules: WeChat public accounts which involved in the issuance, trading and financing of crypto and NFTs will be limited function or banned. https://t.co/0I9oMrvFTp pic.twitter.com/mzclYjFZNg
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) June 20, 2022

In terms of punishments, the new policy states that “once such violations are discovered, the WeChat public platform will, according to the severity of the violations, order the violating official accounts to rectify within a time limit and restrict some functions of the account until the permanent account is banned.”

The Chinese government rolled out a phased ban on the local crypto sector between May and September last year. However, given the timing of the latest policy update on WeChat, it could suggest the platform has been letting some crypto activity go unnoticed since then.

Furthermore, there is still a regulatory gray area in the country concerning NFTs as the assets can be purchased in fiat. Still, companies and platforms generally bar secondary trading to avoid potential compliance issues over the financialization of the tech.

In general, officials have frowned upon NFTs, with the China Banking Association, the China Internet Finance Association, and the Securities Association of China issuing a joint statement in April warning the public about the “hidden risks” of investing in the assets.

Popular platforms such as WeChat and Ant group-owned WhaleTalk have been distancing themselves from the tech since March after they both reportedly began removing or restricting NFT platforms from their networks over a lack of regulatory clarity and fear of a crackdown from Beijing.

Despite this, a local media report from June 16 highlighted data showing the number of digital collectible platforms in China has grown to over 500, a 5X increase since February 2022.