Nikita Bier, head of product at X, has reignited a fierce debate inside the crypto community after sharing a blunt explanation of how the platform’s reach works, and why “Crypto Twitter” might be shrinking. Bier’s post, which is suspected to be deleted now, says a viral myth pushed people to reply hundreds of times a day to grow accounts, but that strategy actually “uses some of your reach for that day.” He closed with an unflinching line: “CT is dying from suicide, not from the algorithm.”
The thread landed like a dropped match. Popular account Crypto Tony responded with fury, accusing Bier of deliberately “nuking” the community’s reach and demanding that X reinstate the old behavior. “Nikita needs to go or fix this sh*t show of a problem as soon as possible,” Crypto Tony tweeted, arguing that the platform’s changes punish users who are chronically online supporting the CT community. “He’s basically saying if we post less content it better for our reach. This makes absolutely no sense for those who are trying to grow their accounts and support the crypto community. Reinstate to how it was before. I am confident things will get better and we will be able to see what we come on X for. Crypto related content in our community.”
Not everyone agrees that the algorithm is the villain. Benjamin Cowen, a longtime crypto commentator, countered that the decline of Crypto Twitter has more to do with creators’ behavior than platform tweaks. In a series of tweets, Cowen argued that influencers who repeatedly promoted poorly researched or paid projects, and then allegedly dumped those tokens, eroded trust and drove the audience away. “The algo did not kill CT,” he wrote. “Influencers that promoted the shittiest of shitcoins to their audience in exchange for allocations in those projects so they could then dump on their audience for the last few years are the ones who killed CT.”
Cowen expanded on that point, saying the community now faces a necessary reckoning. He said, “A lot of influencers on CT feel that the algorithm no longer favors them. I think the harsh reality that the crypto industry has to face/accept in order to mature is to recognize that maybe the algorithm is not to blame, but rather people just choosing to ignore all the low quality posts about ‘lowcap gems’ and memecoins that almost all eventually end up going to zero.” He urged the industry to reward builders and long-term contributors rather than loud promoters of quick gains, arguing the shakeout will ultimately produce more informed investors and a healthier culture.
Debate on X
The exchange lays bare a larger tension playing out across social platforms: how to balance reach and engagement without encouraging spammy behavior, and how communities recover from cycles of hype, paid promotion, and credibility loss. For many regular users on X, the debate isn’t solely technical, it’s emotional. Crypto Tony and other frustrated voices see reach changes as a direct attack on a community that survives on conversation and instantaneous support. For critics like Cowen, the crisis is a consequence of misaligned incentives and the industry’s own hard lessons.
Bier’s original message about “reach” taps into a recurring frustration with platform algorithms: they feel invisible and arbitrary, yet they shape who gets heard. Whether the right remedy is product changes from X, stricter disclosure and accountability among influencers, or a cultural pivot within the crypto scene itself is now the subject of heated discussion. For now, the row shows how fragile online communities can be when trust is slow to rebuild and platform rules change faster than users adapt.
The argument continues to play out publicly, and one thing is clear: voices on all sides see this as a pivotal moment. Some demand immediate fixes from X to restore the community’s former energy; others say the only long-term fix is cultural, not technical. The next moves by X’s product team and the influencers who populate Crypto Twitter will likely determine whether the platform’s crypto corner reinvents itself or continues to shrink.