Key Points
- Elon Musk’s X platform could become the next Venmo app.
- X is reportedly on its way to expanding into an “everything app.”
The latest reports from Bloomberg describe Elon Musk’s X potential to become the next Venmo. The efforts to turn X into an “everything app” including a payment network onto the main social networking service.
Venmo is an American mobile payment service founded in 2009 and has been owned by PayPal since 2013.
Plans for X’s future reportedly involve a Venmo-like payment feature that will allow users to store money on their X accounts, pay other users or businesses, and even buy goods and services in physical stores.
Musk often said that X needs revenue other than advertising, which has historically made up more than 90% of shares. He also stated that X could become the largest financial institution in the world, as noted by Bloomberg.
Documents submitted by the company to state regulators reveal that X doesn’t plan to charge significant fees for the payment services, but X did tell regulator entities that it sees offering payments as a way to boost its business via increased participation and engagement on the app.
X Payments, approved for money transmitter licenses
According to the official notes, X Payments which is a wholly owned subsidiary of X has been approved for money transmitter licenses in 28 states.
It reportedly seeks to be licensed in all 50 states and hopes to launch its payment service across the US in 2024.
Bloomberg notes that even with regulatory approval, X would need to build new services and convince users to adopt them. Musk’s experience as a PayPal co-founder will turn out helpful in this direction.
X plans to give users access to a digital dashboard on its website and mobile app that will serve as a centralized hub for all payment activity. This is where X users will be able to receive and send money, store funds, and view past transactions.
Important payment apps including PayPal’s Venmo, Block Inc.’s Cash App, and Zelle from JPMorgan do not generally charge for peer-to-peer payments, unlike X which anticipates charging small fees.
Bloomberg noted that payments could boost X’s existing advertising business if marketers could see it as a place where customers store money and are likely to make purchases.
Chris Stanley, chief information security officer for X’s payments division said that if the end goal is that users have any incentive to take money out of the system, then it is a fail.
He also said that users should not need to take money out of the platform because they should be able to do anything that they need there.
Not just tipping. I can pull money into X and store it in my X Wallet and send money to any X Payments user. Think Venmo at first. Then, as things evolve, you can gain interest, buy products, eventually use it to buy things in stores (think Apple Pay), etc. The end goal is if you…
— Christopher Stanley (@cstanley) April 22, 2024
Another aspect of finance supported by Musk is crypto and at one point his Tesla company held $1.5 billion in Bitcoin on its balance sheet, allowing customers to buy cars using BTC. He has also been a Dogecoin supporter.
