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.
Featured image credit: Needpix
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