Elon Musk’s X taps crypto designer Benji Taylor for X money push
X has named Benji Taylor as head of design as the company moves closer to the public rollout of X Money.
- X hired Benji Taylor as design chief ahead of the wider X Money rollout next month.
- Taylor held product and design roles at Aave, Avara and Coinbase’s Base before joining X.
- X Money beta includes wallet services, peer payments and a debit card tied to accounts.
The hire brings in a product designer with experience in crypto wallets, DeFi, and consumer apps at a time when X is building out payments inside the platform.
Taylor said he was “honoured” to join X and said he would work closely with Elon Musk, Nikita Bier, and the rest of the team. Musk also welcomed him publicly after the announcement.
The move adds a designer with direct crypto product experience to X’s leadership team. Recent reports said Taylor will work across X and xAI, which places him inside a broader product push tied to social, AI, and payments.
Taylor brings Aave and Base experience
Taylor founded Los Feliz Engineering, the company behind the self-custody wallet Family. His personal site says Aave Labs acquired that company in September 2023, and he then served as chief product officer there until October 2025.
His site also says he later became head of design at Base, Coinbase’s layer-2 network, before moving to X. That background gives X a design lead who has worked on both crypto infrastructure and user-facing products.
Earlier this month, Musk said X Money would enter early public access next month. Reuters reported that X Money is part of his plan to turn X into an “everything app” with payments added to its social platform.
X already has a payments partnership with Visa. Reuters reported in January 2025 that Visa would become the first partner for X Money, letting users fund an X wallet, connect debit cards, send peer-to-peer payments, and move funds to bank accounts.
Beta details point to broader financial features
Reports on the beta have shown more details about the product. Business Insider reported that early users have posted X Money debit cards and that Musk said the service would offer a 6% annual percentage yield on deposits.
Bier also used strong language when welcoming Taylor, saying X was building the “greatest design team in the industry.” That message links Taylor’s arrival to X’s next product phase as payments move closer to wider release.
