Jack Dorsey’s Twitter Rolls Out Bitcoin Lightning Tips For iOS Users

On Thursday Twitter officially enabled third-party Bitcoin tipping services, such as Strike, through iOS users’ profiles on their platform.

Thursday, Twitter has officially enabled third-party Bitcoin tipping services, such as Strike, through iOS users’ profiles on their platform.

The new feature will have the ability to link both Bitcoin and Lightning Network addresses. The company told Reuters on a press call that they hope to roll out the feature for Android in the coming weeks.

The feature is presumed to be compatible with Strike, Cash App, Muun, and other third-party Bitcoin payment solutions. The service is also said to support Square’s forthcoming hardware wallet.

Users will likely be able to send funds from any Bitcoin address, but must receive funds through the Strike API. Twitter stated they were “not in the flow of funds” and would not be taking commission on the payments.

A video was released on Thursday of Jack Mallers demonstrating the service with the firm’s integration of the Strike API. In the video Mallers sent Bitcoin from Chicago to El Salvador via Twitter.

Most payment solutions for the tipping feature will depend on the services available in users’ geographic locations. The exception to this will be Bitcoin and Lightning tips, which will be available to users worldwide, as Bitcoin functions independent of location.

Twitter Product team member Esther Crawford told Reuters, “There’s this great opportunity for us to choose global, barrier-less options, and Bitcoin represents one of the best options. We know not everyone around the world transacts with bitcoin yet, but … we think it’s one of the better solutions.”

The announcement didn’t specify whether the feature would become available for desktop interfaces as well. 

The news comes just weeks after Twitter product lead Kayvon Beykpour confirmed rumors circulating that the company would soon launch a Bitcoin Lightning tipping service.

The Bitcoin developments at Twitter follow through on promises CEO Jack Dorsey made in July, when he implied that Bitcoin would be enabled in the application’s Tip Jar service. He suggested also that Bitcoin could be used for Super Follows, Commerce and Subscriptions.

Jack Dorsey has doubled down on his interest in all things Bitcoin this year, including increasing Square’s Bitcoin holdings, while developing a hardware wallet, peer to peer exchange, dabbling in Bitcoin mining, and teasing Bluesky, an open and decentralized standard for social media.