X Introduces Smart Cashtags to Enhance Crypto Clarity

Social media platform X has announced the upcoming launch of "Smart Cashtags," a feature aimed at reducing confusion around financial and cryptocurrency discussions, as shared by Nikita Bier, the head of product at X.

Key Takeaways

Smart Cashtags: A new feature to help clarify cryptocurrency discussions by allowing users to select specific tokens or contract addresses.
User Engagement: Users can tap on tags for real-time price charts and related mentions across the platform.
Algorithm Transparency: Elon Musk has pledged to open-source the ranking algorithms used for post recommendations.
EU Scrutiny: X faces ongoing probes from the European Union regarding its algorithms and content management practices.
Concerns Over Spam: Analysts have criticized X for insufficient measures against bot-generated spam that drown out legitimate posts.

Elon Musk’s X adds Smart Cashtags for crypto tickers

Main Content

The Smart Cashtags feature will empower users to accurately identify and link assets or smart contracts associated with specific ticker symbols. By selecting tokens or contract addresses from a dropdown prompt, discussions can more effectively guide users to the correct assets, as stated by Bier. Once launched, users will be able to click on these tags to view live price charts and explore relevant discussions across the platform.

X is currently soliciting feedback from its user base and is aiming for a public release next month.

To illustrate the functionality of Smart Cashtags, Solana Labs provided a screenshot showing how users can type a dollar sign, prompting a menu of assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), BONK, Base, and various Solana (SOL)-based tokens. Each token links to a dedicated page that includes prices, charts, and community commentary.

This new announcement followed a controversial post by Bier the day before, which was subsequently deleted. Some users perceived that X might limit the engagement of high-activity accounts, raising worries about reduced visibility for community-driven discussions. Analyst KALEO openly criticized this potential change, suggesting it would deter content creators from interacting effectively with their audience. Bier did not address these concerns in the announcement regarding Smart Cashtags, and X has not clarified whether there is any connection to the earlier situation.

In a recent update, owner Elon Musk stated that X would publicly release its new algorithm, including all code related to organic and paid post recommendations, every four weeks. This initiative includes detailed developer notes to help users understand changes that occur.

This announcement comes against the backdrop of the European Commission extending a retention order related to X's algorithms and management of illegal content until the end of 2026. Recent investigations by Paris prosecutors in July 2025 focused on possible algorithmic bias and fraudulent data extraction, which X has characterized as politically motivated attacks on users' freedom of expression.

Last month, the European Union also fined X 120 million euros for violating transparency obligations set out under the Digital Services Act. The violations pertained to subscription verification, ad repository transparency, and failure to provide researchers with access to public data.

Ki Young Ju, founder of the blockchain analytics platform CryptoQuant, accused X of hindering legitimate crypto posts while failing to adequately manage bot-driven spam. Ju pointed out a significant spike in automated activity associated with “crypto” in a single day, claiming that X's algorithms are struggling to differentiate between authentic users and bots.

Ju further criticized X's paid verification system, which was implemented in part to authenticate actual users but seems ineffective at filtering out bots, allowing them to "pay to spam" while legitimate accounts suffer from reduced reach. Ju commented, “It is absurd that X would prefer to ban crypto than improve its bot detection.”

In his now-deleted post, Bier suggested that numerous crypto accounts are diminishing their daily reach through excessive posting. He emphasized that repetitive, low-value messages, such as “gm” replies and meme spam, dilute visibility since X limits the number of posts seen by the average user each day. "CT is dying from suicide, not from the algorithm," Bier stated, arguing that high-frequency posting is the primary reason for declining visibility. This comment sparked a debate among users, with some claiming that X is suppressing crypto content while others noted that even less active accounts have faced significant reach declines since late 2024.

X has remained a vital real-time communication platform for cryptocurrency traders, project teams, analysts, influencers, researchers, and journalists. The platform enables instant updates on market changes and protocol vulnerabilities.

In the previous year, X launched XChats, a messaging feature that Musk indicated would include "Bitcoin-style encryption," supporting features such as disappearing messages, file sharing, and audio and video calls, built on a redesigned backend using Rust. The company is working towards broader financial capabilities, pursuing a full payments license, and integrating in-app wallets to fulfill Musk's goal of transforming X into a global "everything app."

According to industry analysts, Smart Cashtags represents another step in a series of product updates aimed at keeping finance and cryptocurrency at the forefront of X’s ecosystem. This feature could significantly enhance how traders and researchers interact on the platform by offering clearer tags, fewer misidentified assets, and easier access to pricing information.