Elon Musk’s X companions with Visa to supply digital pockets

Elon Musk’s social media platform X on Tuesday announced the launch of a digital wallet and peer-to-peer payments services provided by Visa.

X struck a deal with Visa, the largest U.S. credit card network, to be the first partner for what it is calling the X Money Account, CEO Linda Yaccarino announced in a post on the platform.

Visa will enable X users to move funds between traditional bank accounts and their digital wallet and make instant peer-to-peer payments, like with Zelle or Venmo.

It’s the first concrete move from X to create a financial ecosystem for the social media site, which was called Twitter before Musk purchased it in 2022. At the time, Musk said the $44 billion acquisition was a way to create an “everything app.” He later said the platform would enable users to conduct their “entire financial world” on it.

In 2021 while Jack Dorsey was still at the helm of X (then Twitter), the company launched a bitcoin tipping feature that allowed users to add their crypto wallet addresses and receive payments in the world’s largest digital token.

But attaining status as a money service business in the U.S. required navigating a far more complex regulatory landscape.

For over a year, Musk has been applying for these licenses for X. According to its website, X Payments LLC is licensed in 41 states and registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

The X Money service is expected to launch in the first quarter, and deals with more financial partners are likely, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

One of the first use cases for X Money is to allow creators on the site to accept payments and store funds without external institutions, said this person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

In November 2022, Musk suggested to the platform’s advertisers in a meeting publicly broadcast on Spaces that this type of payments product might ultimately offer certain banking features, such as a high-yield money market account.

Representatives from Visa declined to comment on the matter.