Twitter Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal told The Wall Street Journal Monday (Nov. 16) that the company is unlikely to sink its corporate cash into cryptocurrency any time soon, adding it “doesn’t make sense right now.”
Through the end of September, Twitter had $3.47 billion in cash and cash equivalents, up from $1.99 billion at the same time a year earlier. The company also has short-term investments of $3.94 billion.
“We [would] have to change our investment policy and choose to own assets that are more volatile,” Segal told WSJ, noting Twitter would rather invest in securities and other less volatile assets.
Segal’s concerns are commonplace across the business landscape, with many CFO or financial leaders saying digital currencies are too volatile to be considered as viable investment options. Many large U.S. corporations have urged the Financial Accounting Standards Board to write rules on how to treat crypto assets, according to the WSJ report.
Segal said earlier this year that Twitter has studied using bitcoin, but added Monday that “there is a different set of decisions we would have to make if we were to own cryptocurrencies on our balance sheet.”
Twitter’s subscription services, on the other hand, “will be a predictable and new open space for us to generate additional revenue,” said Segal. Twitter Blue provides users with extra features and Super Follows allows users to charge followers and give access to additional content.
Related: Twitter iOS Tip Jar for Creators Suggests Bitcoin Gratuities Up Next
Twitter also rolled out an iOS Tip Jar for content creators in September, giving some the thought that the company will soon accept bitcoin gratuities. Twitter gave its users the ability to add Bandcamp, Cash App, Patreon, PayPal and Venmo links to their profile when it debuted the Tip Jar beta in May. Then, it offered a Tip Jar icon next to the Follow button for select accounts to be tip-enabled.
Twitter launched a line of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in March after Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey sold his first tweet for $2.5 million. Dorsey is bullish on cryptocurrency, but he’s pushed for SEC regulations of their use.
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