X Smart Cashtags target crypto spam and asset confusion

X rolls out Smart Cashtags to fix ticker confusion as EU probes algorithms, bots flood crypto posts, and Musk promises open-sourced ranking code.

Social media platform X announced plans to introduce “Smart Cashtags,” a feature designed to clarify financial and cryptocurrency-related discussions, according to a post by Nikita Bier, the company’s head of product.

The feature will allow users to specify exact assets or smart contracts tied to ticker symbols by selecting precise tokens or contract addresses from a prompt, ensuring conversations link directly to correct assets, Bier stated. Users will be able to tap tags to view real-time price charts and browse related mentions across the platform, according to the announcement.

The company is collecting feedback and targeting a potential public release next month, Bier said.

Solana Labs shared a screenshot demonstrating how Smart Cashtags could function for blockchain ecosystems. The example showed typing a dollar sign triggering a drop-down menu of assets including Bitcoin (BTC), BONK, Base, and Solana (SOL)-based tokens, each linked to pages containing prices, charts, and related commentary.

The announcement followed controversy sparked by a now-deleted post by Bier one day earlier. Some users interpreted the message as suggesting X might limit how frequently high-activity accounts can reply or engage, raising concerns about reduced visibility for community-driven threads.

Pseudonymous analyst KALEO publicly criticized the idea, arguing such restraints would discourage creators from interacting with audiences. Bier did not address the backlash in his Smart Cashtags announcement, and X has not stated whether the new feature is connected to the earlier controversy.

Platform owner Elon Musk said 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,” Musk wrote.

The move comes as the European Commission extended a retention order sent to X last year related to algorithms and dissemination of illegal content, prolonging it to the end of 2026. Paris prosecutors investigated the platform in July 2025 for suspected algorithmic bias and fraudulent data extraction, which X called a politically motivated investigation threatening users’ free speech.

The European Union fined X 120 million euros last month, stating the company breached transparency obligations under the Digital Services Act related to subscription verification, ad repository transparency, and failure to provide researchers access to public data.

Ki Young Ju, founder of onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant, accused X of suppressing genuine crypto posts while failing to control bot-generated spam. Ju said automated activity tied to “crypto” spiked dramatically in a single day, and argued X’s algorithms are struggling to distinguish between real users and bots.

Ju added that the platform’s paid verification program, introduced partly to authenticate real users, is failing as a filtering tool, allowing bots to “pay to spam” while legitimate accounts lose reach. “It is absurd that X would rather ban crypto than improve its bot detection,” Ju wrote.

In his deleted post, Bier stated many crypto accounts burn through daily reach by posting excessively, particularly through repetitive, low-value messages such as “gm” replies, meme spam, or continuous engagement farming. Because X limits the number of posts the average user sees per day, accounts that over-post dilute their own visibility by the time they share meaningful updates, according to Bier.

“CT is dying from suicide, not from the algorithm,” Bier wrote, arguing that high-frequency posting habits are the real reason for falling visibility. The remark sparked debate, with some users insisting X is suppressing crypto content and others noting that even low-frequency accounts have experienced major reach declines since late 2024.

X continues to serve as a primary real-time communication hub for cryptocurrency traders, project teams, analysts, influencers, researchers, and journalists sharing instant updates ranging from market movements to protocol vulnerabilities.

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 been building toward broader financial capabilities through its push for a full payments license and integration of in-app wallets, developments Musk has tied to his goal of turning X into a global “everything app.”

Smart Cashtags represent the latest in a series of product updates aimed at keeping finance and cryptocurrency at the center of X’s ecosystem, according to industry observers. The feature could improve how traders and researchers navigate conversations on the platform by offering clearer tagging, fewer misidentified assets, and easier access to price data, analysts said.