X Plans “Smart Cashtags” as Musk Rushes Out New Algorithm Amid EU Crackdown and CT Backlash
Elon Musk’s social media platform X is preparing to introduce a new feature designed to bring greater clarity to financial and crypto-related conversations, a move announced just one day after widespread backlash from parts of the crypto community over fears of throttled engagement.
In a Sunday post, Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, revealed the company is developing “Smart Cashtags” — a tagging feature that will allow users to specify the exact asset or smart contract tied to a ticker symbol.
Instead of simply posting “$SOL” or “$BONK,” users will be able to select the precise token or contract address from a prompt, ensuring that conversations link directly to the correct asset.
Bier said users will be able to tap those tags to view real-time price charts and browse all related mentions across the platform. According to his post, the company is now collecting feedback and targeting a potential public release next month.
“X is the best source for financial news — and hundreds of billions of dollars are deployed based on things people read here,” Bier wrote, underscoring why greater precision and better market-data integrations are becoming a priority for the platform.
Solana Labs Highlights Crypto-Specific Utility of Cashtags
Shortly after Bier’s post, Solana Labs amplified the announcement of incoming Smart Cashtags by showcasing a screenshot of how Smart Cashtags could work for blockchain ecosystems. In the example, typing a dollar sign triggers a drop-down menu of assets — including Bitcoin, BONK, Base, and Solana-based tokens — each linked to individual pages containing prices, charts, and related commentary.
The upgrade, if fully implemented, would deepen X’s integration with crypto markets and could streamline the discovery of onchain assets, tokens, and smart contracts — a recurring pain point for traders and analysts who rely heavily on the platform for research and market sentiment.
Feature Announced After Backlash Over Engagement Concerns
The new tool comes on the heels of controversy triggered by a now-deleted post by Bier the previous day. Some users interpreted the earlier message as suggesting that X might limit how frequently high-activity accounts can reply or engage, sparking fears of reduced visibility for community-driven threads.
A screenshot of a now-deleted post from X’s head of product (Source: X)
Pseudonymous analyst KALEO was among those who publicly criticized the idea.
“Imagine telling streamers that they’re limited to how often they can reply to their chat,” he wrote, arguing such restraints would discourage creators from interacting with their own audiences.
Bier did not address the backlash in his Smart Cashtags announcement, and X has not said the new feature is connected to the earlier controversy. Still, the timing raised eyebrows across Crypto Twitter (CT), where users remain highly sensitive to algorithm changes that affect reach.
Musk Says X Will Open-Source Its New Algorithm Amid Escalating EU Pressure
Amid the backlash, Musk said on Saturday that X will open its new algorithm to the public, including all code for organic and advertising post recommendations, in seven days.
“This will be repeated every 4 weeks, with comprehensive developer notes, to help you understand what changed,” he said in his X post.
Earlier this week, the European Commission decided to extend a retention order sent to X last year, which related to algorithms and dissemination of illegal content, prolonging it to the end of 2026, spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters on Thursday.
In July 2025, Paris prosecutors investigated the social media platform for suspected algorithmic bias and fraudulent data extraction, which Musk’s X called a “politically-motivated criminal investigation” that threatens its users’ free speech.
Last month, the European Union levied a 120 million euro ($140 million) fine on X, with regulators saying the company breached its transparency obligations under the bloc’s Digital Services Act. The fine is related to X’s “blue checkmark” subscription, lack of transparency related to its ad repository and failure to provide researchers access to the platform’s public data.
Musk replied with an obscenity under a European Commission post about the fine.
CryptoQuant Founder: X Is “Punishing Legitimate Users” Amid Bot Surge
While Smart Cashtags garnered intrigue, a parallel wave of criticism hit X on Sunday — this time from Ki Young Ju, founder of onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant.
Ju accused X of suppressing genuine crypto posts while failing to rein in an explosive surge in bot-generated spam. According to Ju, automated activity tied to the term “crypto” soared to more than 7.7 million posts in a single day — a spike of over 1,200%.
He argued that X’s algorithms, struggling to distinguish between real users and bots, have responded by suppressing crypto-related posts across the board.
“As AI advances, bots are inevitable,” Ju wrote. “X’s inability to distinguish bots from humans is the real issue.”
He added that the company’s paid verification program, which was introduced in part to authenticate real users, is failing as a filtering tool. Bots, he said, can now “pay to spam,” while legitimate accounts struggle with reduced reach.
“It is absurd that X would rather ban crypto than improve its bot detection,” Ju wrote.
Bier: CT’s Reach Problems Are “Self-Inflicted”
In his now-deleted X post, Bier pointed the finger back at CT itself.
According to Bier, many crypto accounts burn through their daily reach by posting excessively — particularly through repetitive, low-value messages such as “gm” replies, meme spam, or nonstop engagement farming. Because X limits the number of posts the average user sees per day, accounts that over-post end up diluting their own visibility by the time they share meaningful updates.
“CT is dying from suicide, not from the algorithm,” he wrote, arguing that high-frequency posting habits are the real reason for falling visibility.
The remark sparked fresh debate. One user pushed back, claiming: “They’ve been openly suppressing CT content, forgetting that it’s a large niche that keeps X alive.”
Others noted that even accounts posting only a few times per day have experienced major reach declines since late 2024 — an indication, they argued, that the issue cannot be chalked up solely to user behavior.
Despite Tensions, X Remains Crypto’s Base Layer for Communication
Despite mounting frustrations, X continues to serve as crypto’s primary real-time communication hub. The platform remains the first stop for traders, project teams, analysts, influencers, researchers, and journalists looking to share or consume instant updates ranging from market movements to protocol vulnerabilities.
Part of that dominance comes from Musk’s push to integrate financial and crypto-focused tools directly into X. Last year, the platform launched XChats, a messaging system Musk said would incorporate “Bitcoin-style encryption” and support vanishing messages, file sharing, audio and video calls, and a redesigned backend built with Rust.
The company has also been building toward broader financial capabilities through its push for a full payments license and integration of in-app wallets — developments Musk has repeatedly tied to his goal of turning X into a global “everything app.”
Smart Cashtags Mark a Bid to Deepen Financial Relevance
The teased Smart Cashtags are the latest in a series of incremental product updates aimed at keeping finance — and crypto, in particular — at the heart of X’s ecosystem.
If successful, the feature could dramatically improve how traders and researchers navigate conversations on the platform, offering clearer tagging, fewer misidentified assets, and easier access to price data. It could also help counteract concerns about declining reach by providing a more structured foundation for financial discussion.
But whether these upgrades will offset growing dissatisfaction over algorithm changes, bot spam, and crypto-related throttling remains an open question.
