Elon Musk’s most recent scheme to get into your wallet literally entails becoming one. According to 350 pages of correspondence and documentation pertaining to money transmitter licenses that were turned in to authorities in 11 states and acquired by Bloomberg, new information has surfaced regarding Musk’s intentions to introduce the payments network “X Payments” later this year.
Twitter users who are passionate about cryptocurrencies won’t be allowed to keep their digital assets in an X wallet, despite Musk’s standing as Big Tech’s closest Bitcoin supporter. According to Bloomberg, the business informed Maine officials this year that it has no intention of enabling consumers to transfer and receive virtual currency. In the past, social media companies have had difficulty integrating cryptocurrency: Facebook revealed intentions to introduce the Diem stablecoin in 2019, but within a year of its test program, regulators shut it down.
In late 2022, Musk assumed control of the social media network that was previously known as Twitter due to the company’s dire financial situation. Since then, the founder of Tesla has been looking into additional revenue streams and has launched an initiative to turn X into “an everything app.”
According to documents seen by Bloomberg, the app will eventually go beyond apps like Venmo by allowing users to store money on personal X accounts, pay other users or businesses, and make purchases in actual stores. On its website, X Payments boasts that it has received approval for money transmitter licenses in 28 states, but it is aiming for licensure in all 50. As per the documents, X wants to obtain a license for international money transfers and anticipates a multiyear procedure to obtain the necessary permits to operate worldwide.
Purchasing Twitter is a catalyst for developing X, the all-encompassing app.
– Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk October 4, 2022
Musk hopes to follow in the footsteps of WeChat, the “super app” that became popular in China and has over 1.3 billion active users as of December 2023. WeChat combines social networking, chat, and payments into one platform. In an audio recording of the discussion that The Verge was able to get, Musk expressed similar goals during a call with staff in October, saying: “When I say payments, I actually mean someone’s entire financial life.” “It will be on our site if there is money involved. Cash, stocks, or anything else. Therefore, it goes beyond simply sending my friend $20. I mean, you won’t even require a bank account.
