rewrite this title X to Launch Handle Marketplace, Prices Rare Usernames Up to Seven Figures – Decrypt

X is rolling out its long-promised handle marketplace, allowing Premium subscribers to claim inactive usernames through a two-tier system that prices the most coveted handles at up to seven figures.

The marketplace, accessible only to Premium Plus and Premium Business subscribers, splits dormant handles into Priority and Rare categories.

Priority handles—full names, multi-word phrases, or alphanumeric combinations like @JohnSmith or @Lisa35—are free to request but come with strings attached.

Cancel your Premium subscription, and X yanks the handle back after a 30-day grace period.



Rare handles operate differently. Short, generic usernames like @Pizza, @Tom, or @One will cost anywhere from $2,500 to over $1 million, depending on what X determines is their cultural significance and demand.

Unlike Priority handles, users who purchase Rare handles get to keep them even if they cancel their Premium subscription.

However, don’t go crazy thinking about becoming a handle-flipping magnate. “Handles acquired through the Marketplace are non-transferable,” X said. “Selling or buying handles outside the platform is not allowed and may lead to account suspension.

Overall, X frames the initiative as solving a long-standing frustration. The marketplace prevents the chaos of open handle releases, where bots historically snatched desirable names within seconds, according to company materials.

Users who want a specific handle not currently listed can add it to a watchlist and receive notifications when it becomes available.

The move formalizes what has existed underground for years. Unofficial marketplaces for Twitter handles have operated since the platform’s early days, but X never profited from those transactions.

However, in this case, instead of simply buying a new account, users pay for the right to change their username. In so doing, they preserve their Followers, who are simply migrated to the renamed account.

“Your previous handle is frozen and unavailable to others,” X says on the marketplace’s site. “In the future, we may offer redirect options for select accounts at an additional cost.”

This option is not yet implemented.

Research on this phenomenon revealed that just 27 monitored accounts were able to generate almost half a million dollars by simply doing some handle flipping. Now the company controls both supply and pricing of its digital real estate.

This isn’t Musk’s first attempt at monetizing dormant accounts. In December 2022, shortly after acquiring Twitter, he announced plans to free up 1.5 billion inactive usernames.

By November 2023, it was reported that X was privately soliciting buyers at a flat $50,000 fee. In April 2025, researchers suggested Verified Organizations could bid for handles starting at $10,000.

So what changed?

The bottom line, apparently. X is looking for revenue beyond advertising, which has declined sharply since Musk’s takeover. Betting that exclusive access to coveted handles will drive subscriptions among brands, influencers, and collectors is not a crazy idea.

Critics argue the system creates a digital caste structure, especially because it forces users to keep their Premium subscriptions in order to enjoy the benefits of having a specific username. The implementation turns usernames into rentals rather than permanent digital assets for most users.

And questions about transparency persist. X hasn’t disclosed how it determines which accounts qualify as inactive, nor how original owners could challenge or handle seizures.

The company took the @x handle from photographer Gene X Hwang in 2023 without compensation, simply notifying him that the company was claiming it.

Degens may also recall how the Gemini CEO Cameron Winklevoss “ruthlessly took” the handle @Cameron from a crypto miner.

“I have been an OG to Twitter, I made @Cameron when Twitter came out. I’ve owned the handle for well over 10 years,” Cameron Asa, the original owner, told Decrypt in 2020. “I literally have done nothing wrong to this platform, and the little guy always gets thrown under the bus.”

We’d reach out for comment, but X has a policy of not responding to queries from the press.

How will X be pricing these precious handles?

Who knows. We tried to start the paperwork to buy https://x.com/decrypt, but all we got was a spot on the waitlist.