Elon Musk X Money seeks a technical director! Solana actively reaches out to 600 million users for payment.

X Money, owned by Musk, is hiring senior engineers to build a new payment platform for a social media network with over 600 million monthly active users. Solana has actively shown interest, posting that X is recruiting a technical director for X Money, which is a great opportunity to influence the way hundreds of millions access Financial Service. Notably, Solana's advisor Nikita Bier joined X in June this year as the product lead.

Solana's proactive gestures behind personnel arrangements

(Source: X)

The job posting shared by Solana on the X platform on Tuesday is not a coincidence. This blockchain platform, known for its high performance, clearly stated: “X is hiring a technical director for X Money. This is a great opportunity for you to influence the way billions of people access Financial Service.” Behind this public gesture lies the presence of a key figure.

Nikita Bier, an advisor for Solana, joined X in June this year as the product lead. Bier's dual role makes him a key bridge connecting Musk and the Solana ecosystem. In the cryptocurrency industry, such personnel arrangements often herald deeper technical collaborations. Bier's dual expertise in social products and blockchain makes him an ideal candidate to drive the integration of cryptocurrency technology into X Money.

The reason why Solana is so interested in X Money lies in its technical characteristics and the high compatibility with payment scenarios. Solana can process over 65,000 transactions per second, and the transaction fees are usually less than $0.001. This high throughput and low cost characteristic is exactly the infrastructure needed to serve 600 million monthly active users. In contrast, Ethereum's gas fees can reach dozens of dollars during peak times, which clearly cannot support large-scale social payment applications.

Comparison of Solana's Technical Advantages

Transaction Speed: 65,000+ transactions per second vs. Ethereum 15-30 transactions

Transaction Cost: Average $0.00025 vs. Ethereum peak $50+

Confirmation Time: Approximately 400 milliseconds vs. Ethereum 12-15 seconds

This technological advantage makes Solana an ideal choice for building a global payment network. If Musk really decides to integrate blockchain technology into X Money, Solana will be one of the most competitive candidates. The presence of Nikita Bier provides a natural communication channel for this collaboration.

X Money The Ambition of a Payment Empire Starting from Scratch

The job posting from X Money reveals Musk's immense ambition. Although the job listing does not mention cryptocurrency or blockchain, it does require an engineering director to help “build a payment platform from scratch”—a platform designed to serve over 600 million monthly active users of X.

The job posting stated: “You will leverage your expertise in distributed systems, secure transactions, and high availability architecture to build a robust and scalable payment infrastructure. This is a rare opportunity to create a foundational product at the intersection of fintech and social platforms—enabling users to transfer funds, access payment service tools, and engage in a new digital experience on the X platform.”

The keyword “distributed systems” has sparked extensive discussions within the cryptocurrency community. In the technical realm, distributed systems can refer to traditional distributed architectures, but in the current context, it may also imply the application of blockchain technology. The job posting also notes that having experience in a “greenfield product environment” is a plus. Generally, a “greenfield product environment” refers to building entirely new applications from scratch, or starting from a blank slate.

This description indicates that X Money will emerge in the form of a brand new customized Financial Service infrastructure, rather than simply providing support for existing payment layers or providers. This ground-up strategy presents significant technical challenges while also offering the possibility of integrating innovative technologies. If Musk chooses to incorporate blockchain technology into the underlying architecture, it will endow X Money with the genes of decentralization and transparency from the very beginning.

The scale of 600 million monthly active users means that once X Money is launched, it will immediately become one of the largest digital payment platforms in the world. This user base exceeds the total of PayPal (approximately 435 million active accounts) and Venmo. With Musk's global influence and the social attributes of the X platform, X Money has the potential to disrupt the existing digital payment landscape.

Visa Cooperation and Super App Vision

In January of this year, X's plan to enter the digital payment field seems imminent. The then-CEO Linda Yaccarino announced a partnership with Visa, and this news quickly became the headline in major media outlets. Yaccarino stated at the time: “This is another milestone for the 'universal app': Visa has become the first partner for our X Money account, which will be launched later this year.”

In January of this year, CNBC also reported on the relevant plans, citing anonymous sources who said that X Money is likely to launch in the first quarter. However, X only posted a recruitment message for new employees about a week ago, suggesting that the plans of this community platform may have fallen behind by several months. This delay may reflect Musk's rethinking of the product architecture, and perhaps during this process, the possibility of integrating blockchain technology has been reassessed.

The collaboration between X and Visa aims to allow users of the social media network to top up their digital wallets, transfer money to bank accounts, and conduct peer-to-peer payments. This move is also widely seen as a key part of Musk's grand plan to turn X into a super app similar to WeChat. WeChat's success in China demonstrates the enormous potential of integrating payment functions within social platforms, enabling users to complete almost all daily activities such as socializing, payments, shopping, and hailing rides within a single app.

In addition to occasionally expressing support for the use of digital assets, Musk recently hinted that traditional currency will eventually become “irrelevant.” This statement has sparked widespread interpretation, with some believing he is alluding to the rise of cryptocurrency, while others think he is discussing digital fiat currencies. Regardless, this statement indicates Musk's open attitude towards financial innovation, leaving room for X Money to integrate cryptocurrency technology.

The Possibilities and Challenges of Cryptocurrency Integration

The new job posting for the “Chief Technology Officer” position released by Silicon Valley does not mention cryptocurrencies or stablecoins—these popular tokens have been widely adopted by many large financial institutions following legislation passed in the United States—but the scope of the position indicates that Company X is building its own payment infrastructure rather than primarily relying on third-party vendors.

In April of this year, Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital and former White House communications director, predicted that X Money would integrate cryptocurrency. “I think you'll see X-XL (or whatever you want to call this group), and he's going to build a super app there, and I think he's going to use cryptocurrency,” Scaramucci said. “Will he issue his own cryptocurrency like Telegram? Will it be a stablecoin? It will definitely be something. I don't know what exactly, but it will definitely be something.”

X Money Possible Crypto Integration Path

Stablecoin Payment: Integrate mainstream stablecoins like USDT and USDC to achieve low-cost cross-border transfers.

Native Token: Issue X your own cryptocurrency or stablecoin, similar to Telegram's TON

Blockchain Settlement Layer: Using high-performance chains such as Solana as the underlying settlement network

If X Money really chooses Solana as a technical partner, it will create a win-win situation. For Musk, Solana offers a mature technological infrastructure and an active developer community. For Solana, X's 600 million users would be the largest growth opportunity in its ecosystem's history, potentially allowing Solana to expand from crypto-native users to the mainstream.

However, the regulatory challenges cannot be ignored. The United States' regulatory stance on cryptocurrencies is still evolving, and if X Money integrates crypto technology, it must ensure compliance. This may explain why the job postings deliberately avoid mentioning cryptocurrencies, to prevent triggering regulatory attention before the product is fully formed.