Tess Rinearson, who has led engineering teams at cryptocurrency startups such as Interchains, Chain, and Tendermint, has been brought in by Twitter to lead the effort. Rinearson will report to Twitter CTO Parag Agrawal, who will help set the direction of the newly-formed team which will explore three primary areas of interest. Firstly, the team will look at how Twitter can continue to support cryptocurrencies as a payment form for creators. Secondly, the team will explore how blockchain technologies can create a new way for creators to earn a living. And, lastly, they will lead Twitter’s efforts to decentralise social media with the support of Bluesky.

“There’s massive and growing interest among creators to use decentralized apps to manage virtual goods and currencies,” Twitter said. “Tess will focus here, with a long term goal of exploring how ideas from crypto can help us push the boundaries of what’s possible with identity, community and more.”