Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, is taking a big step towards becoming a financial hub. They’ve just announced a partnership with Visa to handle person-to-person payments for their upcoming X Money product.
Visa Direct Integration
X will utilize Visa Direct, a real-time money transfer solution, to power several key features of X Money:
- Loading funds: Users can easily add money to their X Money wallet.
- Peer-to-peer payments: Seamlessly send and receive money from other X users.
- Bank transfers: Withdraw funds back to their bank accounts.
X’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, revealed this partnership as the first of many exciting announcements planned for X Money this year. While the product isn’t launching just yet, this collaboration marks significant progress.
X’s Financial Ambitions
Elon Musk’s vision for X as a financial platform has been in the works since his takeover. He initially discussed facilitating creator tipping and offering high-yield returns on balances held within X.
To lay the groundwork for X Money, the company has been actively securing money transmitter licenses in numerous U.S. states through its X Payments subsidiary. Currently, they hold licenses in over 40 states.
App researchers have uncovered code snippets hinting at X Money’s functionality, including wallet loading and peer-to-peer payments. However, it appears that X Money might not be available across all U.S. states at launch, as indicated by app researcher Nima Owji.
Author’s Opinion
This partnership with Visa seems to be a solid step towards Musk’s goal of creating an “everything app” similar to WeChat in China. Integrating payments into a platform with such a massive user base could be a game-changer, potentially revolutionizing how people manage their finances and interact online. It’s an ambitious undertaking, and it will be fascinating to see how it unfolds in the coming months.
