Elon Musk's X hires crypto-savvy design lead as X Money payments push inches closer

Finance Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Elon Musk's X hires crypto-savvy design lead as X Money payments push inches closer Benji Taylor, former CPO at Aave Labs and design head at Coinbase's Base, brings self-custody wallet and DeFi product experience to the social media platform. By Krisztian Sandor | Edited by Stephen Alpher Mar 25, 2026, 8:54 p.m. Make us preferred on Google Elon Musk, chairman and founder of X, and Benji Taylor, X's design lead (Benji Taylor/X) What to know : Elon Musk's X has hired crypto veteran Benji Taylor as its new head of design, tying his role to both xAI and SpaceX. Taylor previously founded Los Feliz Engineering, the creator of the self-custody wallet Family, which was later acquired by Aave. He also led design at Coinbase’s Base blockchain network. His background in wallets and decentralized finance comes as X prepares to launch X Money, offering peer-to-peer payments, bank deposits, debit card and cashback across the U.S. Elon Musk’s social media platform X has hired a new head of design with deep roots in crypto product development, as the platform continues to expand into payments and financial services. Benji Taylor said in Wednesday post that he now leads design for X under its ties to xAI and SpaceX. Taylor founded Los Feliz Engineering, the team behind self-custody crypto wallet Family. Aave Labs, the development firm behind $42 billion decentralized lender Aave, acquired the company in 2023, after which Taylor served as chief product officer until October 2025. Most recently, he was head of design at Base, the Ethereum-based blockchain network built by crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN). X product lead Nikita Bier said he had tracked Taylor’s work for years and pushed to bring him on, calling one of his past products among the best designed he had seen. The hire adds a designer with hands-on crypto experience at a time when X telegraphed its plans to roll out features to support payments and broader financial features on the platform. Earlier this month, Musk said that X Money is set to launch in April , offering peer-to-peer transactions, bank deposits, a debit card and cashback rewards in more than 40 U.S. states. It was also proposed to pay a 6% yield on balances. However, there wasn't any mention of blockchain or crypto element in X Money at the time. Elon Musk SpaceX Coinbase More For You BitGo teams with ZKsync to build tokenized deposit infrastructure to bring banks onchain By Margaux Nijkerk | Edited by Stephen Alpher 55 minutes ago Now in testing, the platform aims to enable programmable payments and simplify blockchain adoption for financial institutions. What to know : BitGo and ZKsync are integrating custody and a permissioned blockchain to help banks issue and settle tokenized deposits within existing regulatory frameworks. The infrastructure, now in testing, aims to enable programmable payments and simplify blockchain adoption for financial institutions. Read full story Latest Crypto News BitGo teams with ZKsync to build tokenized deposit infrastructure to bring banks onchain 55 minutes ago Crypto Long & Short: Prediction Markets Don’t Just Forecast Power - They Reshape It 2 hours ago AI agents to help investigators unearth crypto criminals, according to new TRM program 2 hours ago U.S. lawmakers dig into tokenizing securities as Trump ties muddy waters 3 hours ago SBI, Sony back Startale’s $63 million push to expand Japan’s tokenized finance stack 3 hours ago Solana bets on AI agents: Foundation says network is becoming core infrastructure for ‘agentic’ internet 4 hours ago Top Stories Ethereum Foundation prepares for quantum threat with new cryptography roadmap 5 hours ago Circle selloff may be overdone as crypto bill weakens Coinbase edge, say analysts 5 hours ago Gold’s longest losing streak in a century meets bitcoin’s resurgence 10 hours ago Bitcoin’s refusal to fall signals crypto's underlying strength even as war risks linger 9 hours ago Franklin Templeton puts its $1.7 trillion weight behind Ondo to bring 24/7 stock trading to the blockchain 5 hours ago UK political crypto donations banned by Starmer government 6 hours ago