Bluesky to launch payments within months, skipping ads entirely

Bluesky will introduce payments across its network in the coming months, its first monetization move built deliberately around commerce rather than advertising. CEO Toni Schneider and COO Rose Wang announced the plan Thursday on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt, framing payments as step one in a broader infrastructure play.

The executives said they want to formalize economic activity that already exists on the decentralized network, where users currently transact through outside links and payment tools.

"People are actually selling things, fundraising very successfully, supporting each other on the network," Schneider said. "We want to make that easier."

What does the plan actually include?

The first product is straightforward: if a user sees something on the network they want to support, they will be able to send money directly. Schneider said the system must work not only for Bluesky's own app but for every other client built on the AT Protocol, the open infrastructure behind the network.

No launch date, fee structure, or revenue split was disclosed. The timeline remains "coming months."

Wang pointed to Schneider's track record as evidence that non-advertising models can scale. At Automattic, she said, he helped build a $10 billion business in which roughly $1 billion flows back to the parent company and the remainder goes to the surrounding ecosystem.

"Yes, we need to make money, but because of our infrastructure, we cannot lock people in," Wang said.

Why the leadership change matters here

Schneider, the former CEO of Automattic, took charge in March after longtime CEO Jay Graber stepped down. He told the Disrupt audience that user reaction to his appointment surprised him, with some joking it marked the beginning of the end for the platform.

That skepticism shapes how the company rolls out monetization. Schneider noted that users can leave Bluesky for another platform at any time if they dislike a new feature, a structural reality he said keeps leadership accountable.

How big is the advertising question?

Wang pushed back directly on the assumption that every social network eventually turns to ads.

"I think there's a story around monetization that feels like advertising is the inevitable thing we have to do that will ruin the network," she said.

She also invoked Bluesky's status as a Public Benefit Corporation, arguing that this legal structure places the company's mission at the center of its business strategy rather than at its margins.

Wang compared the current creator economy to a feudal system in which a few landlords dictate terms and everyone else pays dues as tariffs. Bluesky's stated aim is the opposite: value and revenue should flow directly to the people who generate them.

"First, we'll start with payments, but I think it's about disrupting the actual infrastructure layer, which is what we're doing, and not just building another app," Wang said.

For creators and small sellers already active on Bluesky, the announcement signals a native payment rail could arrive before the end of the year, cutting friction from transactions that today require external links. Whether the company can execute across the entire federated network, and on what commercial terms, will become clear when the first payment features ship.