Twitter's crypto boss leaves amid mass Musk exodus: Bloomberg

Quick Take

  • Twitter’s crypto division head Tess Rinearson has left the social media platform, reports Bloomberg.
  • It’s unclear how Elon Musk’s takeover and Rinearson’s departure will impact Twitter’s embrace of non-fungible tokens.

Another Twitter career bites the dust.

Tess Rinearson, head of the social media platform’s crypto team, has exited Twitter amid a massive number of both layoffs and employees quitting in the wake of billionaire Elon Musk's acquisition of the company, according to Bloomberg.

A senior software engineer, Hamdi Allam, has also left Twitter’s crypto division, Bloomberg reported.

Internal strife and staff reduction have been rampant since Musk’s takeover of Twitter was finalized late last month.

Besides laying off a large number of employees, Musk, who is acting CEO of both Twitter and Tesla, recently told employees that if they couldn’t commit to a strenuous work schedule they should quit.

Twitter’s decision to allow users to use non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as their profile picture was made under Rinearson, said Bloomberg.

The social media platform also recently announced a trial program that allows users to tweet NFTs with an embedded click-through button that can then be used to buy digital assets from participating marketplaces.

It’s unknown what will happen to Twitter’s blockchain-enabled initiatives given the recent departures, fears over the platform's collapse and Musk’s push to overhaul the company.


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About Author

RT Watson is a senior reporter at The Block who covers a wide array of topics including U.S.-based companies, blockchain gaming and NFTs. Formerly covered entertainment at The Wall Street Journal, where he wrote about Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. and the creator economy while focusing primarily on technological disruption across media. Previous to that he covered corporate, economic and political news in Brazil while at Bloomberg. RT has interviewed a diverse cast of characters including CEOs, media moguls, top influencers, politicians, blue-collar workers, drug traffickers and convicted criminals. Holds a master's degree in Digital Sociology.

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