X Hires Another DeFi Wizard: Because Nothing Says 'Financial Revolution' Like a Metal Card With Your @Handle

In a move that surprised precisely no one watching the slow-motion collision of social media and finance, Elon Musk's X has roped in Benji Taylor, former top product guy at Aave and design lead for Coinbase's Base network, as its new head of design. Because when you're building the everything app, you need the guy who's done, well, everything.

Taylor took to the platform he now helps design to announce the shift, saying he was "honoured" to join the crew and is jazzed to work alongside Musk and X's product czar, Nikita Bier. Bier, not one to undersell, hailed Taylor as being "on track to become one of the best designers in the world" and claimed X is assembling "the greatest design team in the industry." A bold claim, especially when the flagship product is currently a metal rectangle with your username on it.

This hiring spree isn't just for aesthetic kicks; it's a timed run-up to the wider launch of X Money next month. Taylor's resume is dripping with crypto cred, having founded Los Feliz Engineering, a consumer software shop that got swallowed whole by Aave Labs back in 2023. An acquisition that probably looked great on paper, right before the bear market ate all the paper.

Following that tasty exit, Taylor served as Aave's chief product officer until October 2025, steering the product strategy for its decentralized lending monolith. He then jumped ship to lead design for Coinbase's layer-2 playground, Base, before finally answering the siren call of a blue bird turned financial hub. The career path of a true degen: protocol, L2, and now... a debit card.

So, what's this X Money thing he's supposed to make look pretty? Musk teased in early March that public access kicks off next month. The product, currently in a hush-hush beta, dangles a 6% annual yield on idle cash (because why let money sleep?), a personalized metal Visa card with your X handle etched into it (for maximum clout at the coffee shop), and P2P payments within the app. It's like Venmo, but with more memes and existential dread about the timeline.

The grand vision, as Musk has repeatedly sermonized, is to morph X into that fabled "everything app," a glorious chimera of social networking, direct messaging, and your entire financial life. Because if there's one thing the internet needs, it's a place where you can argue about politics, slide into DMs, and settle your bar tab all without ever leaving the chaos. What could possibly go wrong?