X will soon allow you to buy inactive handles for millions of dollars, but there's a catch

People who use the social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), are uniquely identified by their "@" handles. So while your profile name may be shared by a potentially infinite number of users, your handle will be unique to your profile only. In the past couple of years, since Elon Musk took over the platform, it has gravitated more toward a subscription-based model to incur revenue from recurring users. Now, the company has announced yet another way for subscribers to spill out some cash.

In a new post, the @XHandles account has announced that it will soon allow users to purchase inactive handles:

There is a catch, though, as can be seen above. This purchase option will be limited to "Eligible Premium subscribers" once the marketplace launches. Initially, it will be open to Premium Business customers only, who pay $1,000/month for the Full Access tier. Later, the marketplace will open to Premium+ customers, who are paying $40/month. It seems that there are no plans to extend the program to X Premium, which costs $8/month, or the Premium Business Basic tier which is priced at $200/month.

In terms of details, X says that eligible customers will be offered both paid and complimentary options to purchase inactive handles. You can view the full details here, but there will be many ways to acquire handles, including public drops and direct purchases. The former will gauge your past contributions to X, your intended use of the handle, and your overall engagement before awarding you an inactive rare handle. Users will also be allowed to register interest in a handle, with X claiming that rare and in-demand handles may be sold for seven-figure sums, indicating a price tag anywhere between $1 million and $10 million.