Twitter ‘Tip Jar’ Giveaway Features Now Allows Bitcoin Tips

Twitter has announced the expansion of its “tip jar” features on Thursday to allow some users to send and receive tips in Bitcoin.

The new update is expected to enable Twitter users around the world to have access to tipping which allows users to send each other cash through apps like Venmo, Cash App, or Bandcamp, GoFundMe and PicPay, a Brazilian mobile payments platform. But Twitter users in the United States and El Salvador will have the additional option of sending and receiving tips with Bitcoin.

To enable the new features, Twitter is relying on Strike, a person-to-person payments app built on the Bitcoin Lightning Work. As with tips using traditional, non-crypto platforms, Twitter won’t take a cut of tips exchanged between users.

Twitter stated that the new feature will be rolled out to its iOS users beginning on Thursday 23 September and will become available on Android “over the coming weeks.” Tipping with Bitcoin will only be available in the US (except in Hawaii and New York) and El Salvador to start.

How tipping with Bitcoin works on Twitter.  Image Credit: Twitter

Twitter’s Esther Crawford said during a call with reporters that the company sees that update as an extension of its recent work to empower creators on its platform.

“We want everyone to have access to pathways to get paid,”

“Digital currencies that encourage more people to participate in the economy and help people send each other money across borders and with as little friction as possible help us get there.”

The move is also Twitter’s first big move into cryptocurrency, which founder Jack Dorsey has been a major proponent of. Crawford, who leads the company’s creator monetization efforts, also said the company is in the early stages of exploring an NFT authentication service, which would allow users to display NFT art on their profile.

Crawford said that those plans are still in an experimental stage, but the idea is to support NFT creators by giving them away to showcase NFTs on Twitter and provide details about their ownership.

“By allowing people to directly connect their crypto wallets, we can track and showcase our NFT ownership on Twitter,”

She said. It's not clear exactly what this would look like, but she said it could take the form of a badge or another visual cue.

“We are interested in making it somehow visually clear that this is an authenticated avatar and, and then giving you some interesting info and insight about the provenance of that NFT.”