Former Solana consultant joins X as product director, may launch X financial card service this year

Elon Musk's social platform X has undergone the latest high-level personnel change, with Nikita Bier, a former Solana Labs advisor, officially joining X as the product director. Bier previously sold two community Apps he developed to Meta and Discord, and now personally announced that he became a high-level executive by "posting", and will focus on integrating Grok and X.

Founded Community Apps Sold to Meta and Discord, Also Served as Solana Advisor

Bier is known for founding multiple viral growth social Apps, with the most famous being tbh and Gas. tbh was a social App focused on positive interactions, acquired by Meta for over $30 million in 2017. Gas was a teenage social App acquired by Discord in 2022.

Subsequently, Bier officially joined Solana Labs as an advisor in March 2025, helping to promote mobile application development and ecosystem construction.

Jokingly Climbing Up by Posting, Integrating Grok and X and Enhancing Dynamic Features

Going back to shortly after Musk announced the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter (X) in 2022, Bier proactively posted about his intention to become X's product director. On July 1st this year, Bier posted on X:

"Hello everyone, I've successfully climbed to X's product director by posting."

He also posted a photo with Musk, which was reposted by Musk himself. Bier added:

"X is the most important social platform in the world, internet culture starts here, and the most influential people globally gather here."

He will actively promote the integration of AI chatbot Grok, allowing users to see more personalized and real-time dynamic walls, helping everyone understand the big and small events happening in the world.

X Not Only Pushing Payment Services, May Launch Financial Card This Year

Given Bier's previous role as a Solana Labs advisor, and Musk's long-term support for Doge, this personnel change has sparked discussions that X might integrate Doge and SOL into its payment services.

In fact, X has obtained financial licenses in 41 states across the US since 2023, and Musk announced in May that the online payment service "X Money" is currently under internal testing. According to understanding, X CEO Linda Yaccarino stated in June:

"Users will soon be able to invest and trade directly on X. X credit and debit cards are also being explored and may be launched this year."

Overall, X is gradually moving towards a social platform that "combines financial payment and investment trading", but whether specific cryptocurrencies will be introduced still attracts external attention.

(Musk Confirms X Money Internal Testing! Targeting 2025 Launch, Democrat Warren: No Money, So Doing This)

Robinhood is providing tokenized stock services for US companies to European traders, to be issued on the Ethereum-based blockchain Arbitrum, meeting users' expectations of receiving OpenAI and SpaceX tokens. Robinhood's stock price has been rising steadily in the past two years and reached a new historical high yesterday, up 142% year-to-date.

Robinhood Launches Tokenized Stocks in EU

Robinhood is launching tokenized stocks in the EU, providing tokenized US securities to 150,000 customers in 30 countries, five days a week, 24 hours a day. Token holders will enjoy most of the underlying securities' earnings, including dividends, but initially will not support voting rights. Robinhood also stated that tokenized stocks will be commission-free and fee-free, just like its stock trading in the US.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said in an interview with Bloomberg TV: "It's time for cryptocurrencies to go beyond Bitcoin and meme coins and introduce basic utility functions. We believe that in the future, cryptocurrencies and traditional financial services will be completely integrated, with cryptocurrencies becoming the infrastructure layer behind various financial services, from payments (which stablecoins are already starting to demonstrate) to deposits."

Robinhood's tokenized stocks will be issued on Arbitrum, an Ethereum-based blockchain, and will construct a dedicated Robinhood Chain, but customers will not feel any difference on its interface, with ordering methods being the same as traditional stock accounts.

(Will Robinhood Launch Its Own Arbitrum L2 Blockchain? Is It Competing with Coinbase Base?)

Qualifying Users to Receive OpenAI and SpaceX Tokens

To commemorate this launch, Robinhood will gift OpenAI and SpaceX tokens worth 5 euros to each qualifying EU user who joins and trades stock tokens before July 7. The company has allocated $1 million worth of OpenAI tokens and $500,000 worth of SpaceX tokens for this event.

OpenAI and SpaceX were chosen because these two companies are not publicly listed, and historically, only insiders and super-wealthy investors could obtain their equity.

Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood's Senior Vice President and Crypto General Manager, stated:

We are talking about addressing past inequalities. Now everyone can access it! The goal of tokenization is to allow anyone to participate in this economy.

HOOD Stock Price Reaches New High, Up 142% Year-to-Date

The statement challenges US regulators' hesitation towards tokenized assets, with the SEC yet to approve similar products, potentially making Europe a testing ground for a global financial paradigm shift driven by blockchain technology.

Kraken stated last month that it will launch xStocks, American stock tokens to be issued in specific markets outside the US. Coinbase previously indicated that it is seeking SEC approval to offer "tokenized stocks" to its customers.

(Coinbase Seeks to Launch Tokenized Stocks, Becoming a Blockchain Version of Robinhood)

Robinhood recently completed the acquisition of European crypto exchange Bitstamp. Robinhood will also launch crypto perpetual futures in Europe by late summer, a derivative that allows investors to predict asset prices without an expiration date.

Robinhood (ticker: HOOD) stock price has been rising steadily over the past two years, reaching a new historical high yesterday with the news, and is up 142% year-to-date.