Solana Advisor Nikita Bier Joins Elon Musk's X, Reigniting Crypto Payments Speculation

Nikita Bier, a well-known advisor to Solana Labs and app creator, is joining X as head of product, he said Monday.

The move comes amid growing speculation about X's plans to evolve into a payments platform—and whether Dogecoin, Elon Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency, will finally find a home there.

Dogecoin ticked up slightly following the announcement, rising 1.82% from $0.1645 at 9:30 a.m. PT to a daily high of $0.1675 before falling again to $0.1659.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve officially posted my way to the top,” Bier wrote on X. “I’m joining X as Head of Product.”

In an X post showing him posing with Musk—which Musk then quote-tweeted—Bier credited the social media platform with shaping internet culture and global discourse, and said it had played a defining role in his personal and professional life: “X is the most important social network in the world. It's where internet culture originates and where the world's most influential people convene.”

As part of his new role, Bier, who founded TBH—a polling app acquired by Facebook in 2017—said he would focus on integrating Grok, X’s in-house chatbot developed by xAI, into the platform. His goal, he said, is to help users better understand real-time conversations by building “hyper-relevant timelines.”

Bier’s appointment may also signal a deeper push toward crypto integration as Musk looks to build his “everything app.”

Since 2023, X has quietly acquired money transmitter licenses in over a dozen U.S. states, including Arizona, Georgia, and Michigan. In May, Musk announced that X users would soon be able to make payments using a native currency called X Money. In June, CEO Linda Yaccarino followed up with plans to support in-app investing and trading.

Still, a question remains: Whither Dogecoin?

Elon Musk and Dogecoin: How the Billionaire Became the 'Dogefather'

With Dogecoin making a comeback late last year and early into 2025, some may be pondering: Where did the asset come from? What’s it for? And what’s Tesla CEO Elon Musk got to do with it?  The original meme coin’s boom largely has the world’s richest man to thank. Musk’s obsession with shitposting helped boost the coin to a top 10 cryptocurrency. It’s been a wacky ride over the past few years, culminating in Musk's appointment to lead a government agency called DOGE—yes, really. But we'll explain...

Despite Musk’s long-standing public affection for the number one meme coin, including past tweets that have sparked significant price movements, there has been no confirmation that Dogecoin will be part of X’s financial ecosystem.

“While I already spend every waking hour on this app,” Bier wrote, “I’ll now be spending that time helping others unlock that same value.”

Bier did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Decrypt.