X recruits a design leader with cryptocurrency expertise as the advancement of X Money payments progresses.

Benji Taylor, former CPO at Aave Labs and head of design at Coinbase’s Base, brings extensive self-custody wallet and DeFi product expertise to the social media platform.

Elon Musk, chairman and founder of X, and Benji Taylor, X’s design lead (Benji Taylor/X)

Key Points:

• Elon Musk’s X has appointed crypto expert Benji Taylor as its new design head, linking his responsibilities to both xAI and SpaceX.
• Taylor previously established Los Feliz Engineering, the developer of the self-custody wallet Family, which was later acquired by Aave. He also directed design at Coinbase’s Base blockchain network.
• His experience in wallets and decentralized finance comes as X prepares to introduce X Money, facilitating peer-to-peer payments, bank deposits, debit card usage, and cashback across the U.S.

Elon Musk’s social media platform X has appointed a new design head with substantial experience in crypto product development, as the platform seeks to grow its offerings in payments and financial services.

Benji Taylor announced in a post on Wednesday that he now oversees design for X in connection with its association with xAI and SpaceX.

Taylor founded Los Feliz Engineering, the team behind the self-custody crypto wallet Family. Aave Labs, the company behind the $42 billion decentralized lender Aave, purchased the firm in 2023, after which Taylor held the position of chief product officer until October 2025. Most recently, he was head of design at Base, the Ethereum-based blockchain network developed by crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN).

X product lead Nikita Bier stated that he had been following Taylor’s work for years and advocated for his hiring, noting that one of his earlier products was among the best designed he had encountered.

This recruitment brings a designer with practical crypto knowledge at a time when X has indicated its intentions to implement features to support payments and expanded financial services on the platform.

Earlier this month, Musk mentioned that X Money is expected to launch in April, providing peer-to-peer transactions, bank deposits, a debit card, and cashback rewards in over 40 U.S. states. It was also suggested that it would offer a 6% yield on balances.

However, there was no mention of any blockchain or crypto features in X Money at that point.