Elon Musk’s X Is Not Looking To Become A Crypto Exchange, Clarifies Product Head Nikita Bier

Guy Fawkes 2026.02.18 3 min read

Despite earlier announcements that promised crypto and stock trading on Elon Musk’s X, the anticipated features may not launch as planned. The social giant insisted that it is not looking to become a crypto exchange.

“X is not handling trade execution or acting as a (crypto) brokerage. Just building the financial data tools and links,” clarified Nikita Bier, X’s Head of Product, on 14 February 2026.

Instead, the platform is launching “Smart Cashtags,” but it will not facilitate direct crypto trading. “We are launching a number of features in a couple weeks, including Smart Cashtags that will enable you to trade stocks and crypto directly from timeline,” said Bier.

“I genuinely want crypto to proliferate on X, but applications that create incentives to spam, raid and harass random users is not the way,” added Bier.

Just a few days ago, Elon Musk confirmed that the highly anticipated financial arm of his platform, known primarily as X Money, will launch its external beta in just one to two months. During an xAI “All Hands” presentation on 11 February 2026, Musk said that the internal testing phase is complete. So, the technology is ready for a limited public rollout.

good morning guys

So X is not launching in-app trading after all

At first, many thought X was about to let users trade stocks and crypto directly from the timeline through its new Smart Cashtags feature

But that is not the case

Head of product Nikita Bier clarified that X… pic.twitter.com/mnJCIrKq9m

— Rahul (@RahulOnChain) February 17, 2026

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So, Is X Really Going To Be An “Everything App”?

Since buying the platform, he has been vocal about turning X into an “everything app” similar to WeChat, where you can chat, read news, and send payments all in one place. This fed speculation that X would build its own internal crypto exchange.

X users had reacted positively to the news and memecoins like Dogecoin rallied. However, there is a big difference between showing price data and actually holding money. Musk fans often buy rumors hoping X will adopt DOGE for payments, but this clarification shows the company is taking a cautious, partner-led approach.

While X has secured money transmitter licenses in over 40 states, these are primarily for moving fiat currency (like US dollars) between friends, not for the complex regulations required to trade volatile assets like Bitcoin.

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Neither X Nor Elon Musk Have Issued Official Statements Addressing Conflicting Reports

So far, “X Money” is a wait and watch thing.

The uncertainty surrounding X’s trading features comes as the platform continues pursuing Musk’s vision of expanding beyond social media into financial services. The X Money initiative represents one of the most ambitious aspects of this transformation, but delivering secure, regulated financial services at scale presents significant technical and compliance challenges.

Neither X nor Elon Musk have issued official statements clarifying the current status of the crypto trading features or addressing the conflicting reports.