X is in talks about using stablecoins, including Circle’s USDC, to pay royalties to users who upload content, according to a person familiar with the plans cited by CoinDesk.
The conversations are ongoing, which reported the discussions on Thursday. CoinDesk stated that the same person also works with other social media platforms testing stablecoins as a way to pay commissions to influencers.
The Crypto Times has not independently verified the report. No filing, product announcement, or statement from X has confirmed any stablecoin plans.
What X Has Confirmed
X is overhauling how it pays creators. The company said in a post from its @XCreators account that it is phasing out its Revenue Sharing program in favor of an Original Content Rewards Program, designed to reward creators who bring original ideas, expertise, reporting, creativity, and commentary to the platform.
That change is on the record. Nothing in X’s announcement mentions stablecoins or any digital asset.
X began rolling out X Money to a subset of Premium+ subscribers in June, offering peer-to-peer payments, a Visa debit card, and a savings product. The Crypto Times covered the launch, noting at the time that neither X, Musk, nor its banking partner had confirmed plans to add any cryptocurrency to the service.
Musk Reportedly Told CZ the Opposite in June
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said in June that he had discussed a potential Binance partnership for X Money with Musk and that Musk told him the platform is currently staying away from crypto. Zhao said he remained hopeful X could eventually become a major global payments platform. The Crypto Times reported his comments.
That account and CoinDesk’s report describe different positions roughly two months apart. Neither has been confirmed by X.
Design Lead Came From Coinbase’s Base
Musk hired Benji Taylor as head of design at X in March, with the role tied to xAI and SpaceX. Taylor previously led design at Base, the blockchain network operated by Coinbase, and has a background in wallets and decentralized finance.
SpaceX already uses stablecoins to collect cross-border payments from Starlink customers in emerging markets, a practice first reported by TechCrunch in January 2025.
Stablecoin Market Above $300 Billion
Stablecoins are tokens designed to hold a fixed value against a reference asset, most commonly the US dollar, and are used to move money across borders without passing through correspondent banks.
Payment companies have moved into the sector over the past year. Western Union launched its USDPT stablecoin on Solana in May, MoneyGram launched MGUSD on Stellar in June, and more than 140 firms, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, and Google, backed the Open USD project announced on June 30.
Musk Crypto Claims Have a History of Not Holding Up
Reports linking Musk’s companies to cryptocurrencies have repeatedly failed verification. The Crypto Times checked and found no evidence behind claims in June 2025 that Musk had offered to buy $50 billion of XRP and separately found no support for a subsequent claim of a $104 billion purchase.
Those were unsourced social media posts rather than reported journalism. CoinDesk’s report is bylined by Ian Allison and edited by Sheldon Reback, and states its sourcing.
The Crypto Times contacted X and Circle for comment at 11:12 am UTC on August 20.
