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Elon Musk has made it official: he has kicked off beta testing for X Money, the long-anticipated payment and banking feature of the X platform (formerly known as Twitter). In a post on X from May 25, Musk said the first beta testing will be "very limited access beta at first" and noted, "Extreme care has to be taken when people’s savings are involved."
Strategic Partnerships and Licensing
X Money will launch later this year, with Visa as the first partner. The service will enable users to instantly and securely load their X wallets with money from Visa Direct accounts, meaning users will be able to make a peer-to-peer payment or send money live to their bank account. X is now also licensed as a money transmitter in 41 U.S. states, which is also very important for a nationwide launch.
The planning for X Money fits well into Musk's vision of an 'everything app' for X, which is a one-stop shop that consolidates social media, payments, and other services and combines them into one complete platform for a user, similar to China's WeChat.
Despite progress, X Money has regulatory and logistical challenges, including withdrawing as a result of the legal impasse of moving forward with the money transmitter application in New York.
That being said, the platform intends to roll out in states that have approved a phased rollout and, potentially, sometime in the future internationally.
X Money has not escaped political scrutiny. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has made a strong statement opposing this move by X due to external concerns regarding personal data security and Musk's growing influence. Warren stated, "Musk has lost money hand over fist on X.
So he has this idea of X becoming a big money platform where he would have everybody's financial data." This is part of broader fears surrounding tech billionaires who are now entering the financial sector.
While still early, the beginning of X Money's beta testing is an essential move for Elon Musk in pursuing its ultimate goal of developing X into a social media platform that does a little bit of everything. While there are still regulatory hurdles to be navigated, with the leverage of partnerships to help in achieving its goals, Musk's vision for X Money is relevant in a different payment space.
