X Plans To Launch Crypto “Starterpacks,” Offering Bitcoin And Alts

• X is planning to launch “Starterpacks” in the coming weeks to provide curated follow lists for niches like Bitcoin and memecoins.
• The platform recently open-sourced its recommendation algorithm on GitHubdue to transparency issues and regulatory pressure.
• The platform’s head of product, Nikita Bier, admits that account growth is a major challenge because X works as an interest-based graph.

X, the social media giant, is preparing a new onboarding tool called Starterpacks. 

This feature will let new users instantly follow specially curated groups of accounts, and these lists will focus on specific interests like Bitcoin and blockchain technology. 

The goal is to make the platform easier to navigate for beginners. 

Before now, users had to spend months finding the best voices in their niche. Now, X is attempting to automate that discovery process.

Finding the Best Accounts with the New Starterpacks

X head of product Nikita Bier announced the tool on Wednesday. 

He said that the team has spent months scouring the world for top posters. They have already created over 1,000 pre-made packs, and these categories cover several topics, including economics, politics, fashion and business. 

There are even packs for “unhinged personalities” and software builders.

The Bitcoin and crypto community is a major focus of this update. New users tend to struggle to find credible sources in the sea of noise. However, by offering a curated list, X wants to help them skip the trial and error. 

Bier mentioned that finding relevant accounts is one of the toughest challenges for the app. Unlike other apps, you cannot simply sync your phone contacts to find a great feed on X. Instead, you must find people based on shared interests.

Improving Account Discovery for the Bitcoin Community

The platform is launching this tool at a time when engagement seems to be changing.

Cypherpunk Jameson Lopp shared some surprising data recently. He noted that posts mentioning the word Bitcoin fell by 32% last year alone, and this decline has caused some to worry that “Crypto X” is losing steam. 

Bier argues that the issue is not the algorithm, and he believes users need better ways to dive into their niche interests.

The Starterpacks tool, in essence, is an attempt to fix this discovery gap. When users stay in the mainstream timeline of news and politics, they tend to miss the “magic” of the app. 

The real value thus comes from specialised communities, and by grouping the best posters, X is hoping to boost retention and growth. 

Competing with Bluesky and Other Rivals

Other platforms have already tried similar ideas. Bluesky, for example, released its own version in mid-2024. 

Their tool allows any user to create and share lists of up to 50 accounts. Meta’s rival app (Threads) also started testing curated feeds around the same time. This means that X is now playing catch-up to make sure that it continues to be the home for real-time discussions.

Historically, the platform used to have editorially curated suggestions. However, in 2010, it switched to algorithmic recommendations to avoid claims of bias. 

Soeculators are thinking of these new packs as a return to human-created lists. The “Crypto Founders” pack already includes famous names like Binance founder Changpeng Zhao or Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. 

Brian Armstrong from Coinbase and Justin Sun from Tron are also featured.

Controversy and Algorithm Transparency

Certain names being included in these lists have been a source of debate lately,

Some critics worry that these lists might promote “pump and dump” schemes. For example, the SEC sued Justin Sun in 2023 for alleged market manipulation. Critics argue that featuring controversial figures like Sun could mislead new investors. 

So far, X has not yet explained the exact criteria used to pick these accounts.

However, to build trust, the company recently open-sourced its recommendation algorithm. Elon Musk promised this move to show how the “For You” feed works. 

The code is now available on GitHub, and it shows that the system uses a transformer model called Grok to rank posts. The algorithm looks at your likes, replies, and clicks to predict what you want to see.

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