X to Launch Handle Marketplace, Prices Rare Usernames Up to Seven Figures

X introduceert zijn lang beloofde handle-marktplaats, waardoor Premium-abonnees inactieve gebruikersnamen kunnen claimen through een systeem met twee niveaus dat de meest begeerde handlen tot zeven cijfers prijst.

{The marketplace}, which is just open to Premium Plus and Premium Enterprise subscribers, splits dormant accounts into Precedence and Uncommon classes.

Precedence handles (full names, multi-word sentences, or alphanumeric combos comparable to @JohnSmith or @Lisa35) are free to request, however they arrive with phrases and circumstances.

Cancel your Premium subscription and X will withdraw the deal with after a 30-day grace interval.

Uncommon handles work otherwise. Brief, generic usernames like @Pizza, @Tom or @One value wherever from $2,500 to over $1 million, relying on what X considers their cultural significance and demand.

Not like Precedence handles, customers who buy Uncommon handles get to maintain them even when they cancel their Premium subscription.

Nevertheless, do not be loopy if you happen to’re desirous about changing into a turnaround tycoon. “Trades obtained by the Market are non-transferable,” mentioned X. “Promoting or shopping for handles exterior the platform isn’t permitted and will lead to account suspension.

Total, X sees the initiative as fixing a long-standing frustration. {The marketplace} prevents the chaos of open-handle releases, the place bots have traditionally snatched desired names in seconds, firm supplies present.

Customers who desire a particular deal with that isn’t at present listed can add it to a watchlist and obtain notifications when it turns into accessible.

The transfer formalizes what has existed underground for years. Unofficial marketplaces for Twitter handles have been lively because the early days of the platform, however X has by no means profited from these transactions.

Nevertheless, on this case, as an alternative of merely buying a brand new account, customers pay for the appropriate to vary their username. By doing this they preserve their followers, who’re merely migrated to the renamed account.

“Your earlier username is frozen and unavailable to others,” says X on the marktplaats web site. “Sooner or later, we might supply redirect choices for sure accounts at a further value.”

This feature has not but been carried out.

Analysis into this phenomenon discovered that simply 27 audited accounts have been in a position to generate virtually half 1,000,000 {dollars} simply by making just a few strikes. Now the corporate controls each the provision and pricing of its digital actual property.

This is not Musk’s first try to become profitable from dormant accounts. In December 2022, shortly after buying Twitter, he introduced plans to liberate 1.5 billion inactive usernames.

In November 2023, it was reported that X approached personal consumers for a flat price of $50,000. In April 2025, researchers recommended that verified organizations might bid for handles beginning at $10,000.

So what has modified?

The underside line, apparently. X is searching for income past promoting, which has plummeted since Musk’s takeover. It is a no-brainer to guess that unique entry to coveted titles will drive subscriptions amongst manufacturers, influencers, and collectors.

Critics declare that the system creates a digital caste construction, particularly because it forces customers to keep up their Premium subscriptions to be able to reap the advantages of getting a selected username. The implementation turns usernames into leases as an alternative of everlasting digital property for many customers.

And questions on transparency stay. X has not disclosed the way it determines which accounts qualify as inactive, nor how the unique homeowners can dispute or deal with seizures.

The corporate acquired photographer Gene

Degens may additionally bear in mind how Gemini CEO Cameron Winklevoss “ruthlessly” took over the deal with @Cameron from a crypto miner.

“I have been an OG for Twitter, I created @Cameron when Twitter got here out. I’ve owned the deal with for over a decade,” Cameron Asa, the unique proprietor, instructed me. Declutter in 2020. “I’ve actually carried out nothing mistaken with this platform, and the little man at all times will get thrown beneath the bus.”

We wish to contact you for remark, however X has a coverage of not responding to press inquiries.

How will X worth these treasured handles?

Who is aware of. We tried to begin the paperwork to buy https://x.com/decrypt, but all we got was a spot on the waiting list.