Elon Musk took a $40,000 username from a guy who had owned it for 16 years. He paid him absolutely nothing. Not even a dollar. Instead, he was offered a T-shirt and a tour of Twitter’s headquarters. This is the story of Gene X. Hwang the first @X username 2007 - photographer from San Francisco - co-founder of Orange Photography - registers @x on Twitter - keeps the username for 16 years over the years account grows to ~53,000 followers receives offers of up to $40,000 for the handle But he refuses to sell 2014 - hackers steal his x account - Twitter helps him recover it July 23, 2023 - Elon Musk announces Twitter will become X - Gene is in Canada playing in a pinball tournament He has no idea what’s coming July 25, 2023 - Twitter officially becomes X - the company wants x - Gene receives an email from Twitter support “Your user handle is affiliated with X Corp.” his username is taken and gets a new one @x12345678998765 what X offers him - company merchandise - exclusive tour of X headquarters - meeting with the management team $0. Gene even asks if he can have the old blue Twitter bird sign being removed from headquarters. they say no. October 2025 X launches its Handle Marketplace rare usernames can cost $2,500 to over $1 MILLION users must maintain a paid subscription lose the subscription, potentially lose the handle the same company that took x without paying its owner now charges people for access to rare usernames. 16 years building an identity. $40,000 in offers rejected. and all he got was an offer of merchandise and an office tour. BROTHER.