Twitter Makes Consecutive Reforms in the Crypto Sector Within a Week, What Does Musk Want to Do?

marsbitPublicado a 2026-01-16Actualizado a 2026-01-16

Resumen

X (formerly Twitter) has made significant changes to its cryptocurrency ecosystem, cutting off API access for several prominent Web3 "InfoFi" projects like Kaito and Cookie, despite their substantial annual fees. Led by growth product head Nikita Bier, the move aims to eliminate what he calls "AI slop"—low-quality, incentivized replies and engagement farming driven by external token rewards. This purge is part of a broader strategy to reclaim control over content monetization and user attention. X is shifting its creator incentives to prioritize engagement from verified Premium users rather than artificial interactions. The goal is to foster higher-quality, authentic content. Simultaneously, X is rolling out smart ticker tags for cryptocurrencies and stocks, integrating real-time price data and financial information directly into the platform. This reduces friction between information and action, allowing users to view and potentially execute trades without leaving the app. Elon Musk’s vision for X is evolving into an "Everything App"—a fusion of a real-time financial terminal (like Bloomberg) and a public square. By cleaning up low-value noise and integrating seamless transactional features, X aims to become the central platform where news breaks and financial transactions happen instantly.

X platform has once again made a drastic transformation in the cryptocurrency sector.

For ordinary users, this might just mean seeing fewer inexplicable replies in their timelines or sudden price drops of certain tokens; but for the "InfoFi" projects that rely on this platform for their livelihood, it is nothing short of a catastrophic blow. The X platform has abruptly cut off API access for several well-known Web3 information flow projects, including Kaito and Cookie. Despite these projects paying millions of dollars in API call fees to X annually, and despite once being regarded as the most active innovators in the Twitter ecosystem.

We need to connect the dots. Let’s consider X’s recent move to add smart tags to cryptocurrency and stock tickers a few days ago, and think about what Musk is trying to achieve.

Perhaps he is clearing the weeds because he is preparing to pave that golden runway to the Everything App in his garden.

Ending InfoFi

X platform’s reform of the cryptocurrency sector is inseparable from one person.

Nikita Bier, this name is legendary in Silicon Valley’s product circles. If you understand his resume, you will realize that this is not an impulsive move by an old-school executive. On the contrary, Bier is the person who understands viral spread the most. He founded tbh and Gas—two social apps that drove American teenagers crazy; the former was sold to Facebook, the latter to Discord. What he excels at is leveraging human weaknesses to generate traffic.

Precisely because he is an expert in creating viral spread, he knows better than anyone what kind of traffic is toxic.

After joining X to oversee product growth, Bier quickly set his sights on InfoFi projects. These projects appear prosperous but are actually based on a logic contrary to the X platform: reply-to-earn.

Under the models of Kaito or Cookie, every reply and every like under a tweet is meant to earn the project’s token points. This external incentive mechanism has led to disastrous consequences, with much content being drowned out by AI-generated nonsense, meaningless praise, and mechanical spam. Bier calls this "AI slop."

So, even at the cost of losing millions of dollars in annual API revenue, these projects had to be shut down. He stated bluntly in the announcement: this is for the user experience. But beneath this seemingly justified reason lies a deeper strategic conflict: the fight for the pricing power of attention.

Only X Can Define What "Good Content" Is

Musk is not against users making money on X, but he not only wants you to make money, he wants you to make money according to his rules.

The biggest sin of InfoFi projects is that they have established an incentive system independent of X. This system tells users: "As long as you刷量刷量 (刷量 likely means inflate metrics like views/clicks artificially), you will be rewarded." This constitutes a fundamental conflict of interest with the official creator incentive program that X is vigorously promoting.

So, how has X’s official incentive evolved by 2026? The current X no longer pays solely for ad impressions but has shifted to a more advanced metric: interactions from Premium users.

This means that if 1,000 bots or刷量 accounts like your tweet, you might not get a single cent; but if a verified, real industry expert retweets your opinion, your revenue weight will increase significantly. X even algorithmically penalizes accounts that mutually inflate data.

Musk’s logic is clear: he wants the flow on the X platform to consist of the most useful messages, the latest news, and the most authoritative comments.

Cleaning up InfoFi,表面上 (表面上 -表面上 means表面上 apparently/on the surface) is anti-spam, but in reality, it is the回收 (回收 -回收 means reclaiming) of incentive power. Musk wants all creators to understand: the only way to profit on X is to produce high-quality content that resonates with real users.

Only when the comment section is no longer a dumping ground for bots can new users intuitively feel the value here. They will discover that they can see the most worthwhile news here, not performances they are forced to watch for airdrops.

From the Highest Quality Information to the Most Direct Transactions

When the weeds in the garden are cleared, the path that was originally obscured becomes visible. This is the second step in X’s recent transformation: turning information directly into capital.

While purging third-party APIs, X announced the official launch of smart tags in February. This is not a simple hyperlink, but a native integration of financial data.

Previously, when you saw a $Ticker in a tweet, it might just be a static symbol, or even point to the wrong asset due to同名 (同名 -同名 means同名同名同名同名同名 homonyms/same name). In the new system, when you discuss a specific cryptocurrency or stock, X will accurately identify it, display real-time price charts, related news, and even future trading入口 (入口 -入口 means入口 entry points/portals).

Why do this? The flow of funds is essentially the monetization of information.

In financial markets, especially the cryptocurrency market, news is price. A piece of news about regulatory approval can instantly translate into hundreds of millions of dollars in buying pressure; a tweet about a technical vulnerability can also instantly trigger panic selling. In the past, this process was fragmented: you saw the news on X, then frantically switched to Binance or Coinbase to trade. Even a delay of a few seconds in between could mean missing the opportunity.

Musk’s vision is to eliminate these few seconds of "friction."

Imagine this scenario:

On X, you first see a piece of真实 (真实 -真实 means真实 real) and significant positive news, verified by high-frequency interactions from Premium users,而不是 (而不是 -而不是 means而不是 rather than) noise buried under AI spam. On the keywords of this news, smart tags light up directly. You click the tag, and without leaving the app, you directly see the market行情 (行情 -行情 means行情行情行情行情行情行情行情 quotes/market conditions), and even complete capital transfers through integrated payment functions.

This is what Musk envisions for the future X, the prototype of the "Everything App."

Towards the Endgame of the Everything App

Many people think超级应用 (超级应用 -超级应用 means超级应用超级应用超级应用超级应用超级应用超级应用 super app) is the WeChat model, which is stuffing all functions like chat, ride-hailing, food delivery, etc., into one app. But in Musk’s understanding, X’s path to a super app is more like a combination of "Bloomberg Terminal + Town Square."

In the Western internet world, no platform monopolizes the first point of contact for global breaking news like X does. Whether it’s political elections, sporting events, or cryptocurrency market movements, "news happens on X" is already an established fact.

Now, what Musk wants to do is make "trading happen on X."

Preguntas relacionadas

QWhat recent major changes has X (formerly Twitter) made to its cryptocurrency sector?

AX has made two major changes: it abruptly cut off API access for several prominent Web3 information projects like Kaito and Cookie, despite their substantial annual fees, and it introduced smart tags for cryptocurrency and stock tickers to provide real-time price charts and related news.

QWho is Nikita Bier and what role did he play in X's recent actions against InfoFi projects?

ANikita Bier is a product growth lead at X, known for his expertise in viral social apps. He identified InfoFi projects as generating 'AI slop' through reply-to-earn models that created spammy, low-quality content, and he led the decision to terminate their API access to protect user experience and reclaim control over content incentives.

QWhy did X platform decide to terminate API access for InfoFi projects like Kaito and Cookie?

AX terminated these API accesses because the projects operated on a 'reply-to-earn' model that incentivized users to generate大量 low-quality, AI-generated replies and spam, which degraded the user experience. This also conflicted with X's own creator incentive program, which aims to reward high-quality content from real users.

QWhat is the strategic goal behind X's introduction of smart tags for financial tickers?

AThe strategic goal is to reduce friction between information and action by integrating real-time financial data and potential trading features directly within X. This allows users to see prices, news, and possibly execute trades without leaving the app, moving X closer to becoming an 'Everything App' where information leads directly to transactions.

QHow does Elon Musk envision X's evolution into an 'Everything App'?

AMusk envisions X as a combination of a 'Bloomberg Terminal and a town square.' It aims to be the primary platform for real-time global news and financial information, where users can not only consume high-quality, verified content but also seamlessly execute transactions, thereby centralizing both information and financial flow within the app.

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