In X News Today, Elon Musk Wants Your Financial Details
In X news today, Elon Musk is set to transform X into an all-encompassing financial hub by 2024.
- Musk aims to centralize users’ financial lives on the platform.
- X is actively pursuing money transmission licenses across the U.S.
- Musk’s ultimate goal is to create an “everything” app similar to China’s WeChat.
Elon Musk wants to take X from a mere social media platform to an all-encompassing financial hub by 2024, reports The Verge.
During an all-hands call with X employees on October 27th, Musk revealed his plan to make X the epicenter of your life, including the financial one. According to the audio obtained by The Verge, Musk said, “When I say payments, I actually mean someone’s entire financial life. If it involves money, it’ll be on our platform. Money or securities or whatever. So, it’s not just like send $20 to my friend. I’m talking about, like, you won’t need a bank account.”
X CEO Linda Yaccarino echoed Elon Musk’s enthusiasm, deeming it a “full opportunity” set to materialize in 2024. Musk emphasized the urgency of their endeavor by saying, “It would blow my mind if we don’t have that rolled out by the end of next year.”
That’s a tall order for a company whose ad revenue slumped 54% since The Acquisition.
However, X is already setting the wheels in motion. The team is diligently working to secure money transmission licenses across the US, a necessary step for providing comprehensive financial services. The platform has already obtained licenses for money transmission and money services in nine states, as documented by the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System. These states include:
- Arizona
- Georgia
- Iowa
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- New Hampshire
- Rhode Island
Musk’s ultimate goal is an “everything” app like China’s WeChat, which offers a multifaceted ecosystem encompassing shopping, transportation, and more.
If Musk is successful in this endeavor, it would mean great benefits for the X user and great costs for legacy banks.
As far as users are concerned, the app would provide them with significant value by simplifying and centralizing financial services. Users may no longer need traditional bank accounts. This convenience, potentially lower fees, and integration with other X features may enhance the user experience. But it will all depend on execution, trust, and regulatory compliance.
If successful, X could change the financial landscape. Considering traditional banking is having a difficult time keeping up with fintech already, they could lose even more customers. Why go to the bank when I can settle my bills from the comfort of my home using a functioning app? And it’s not like banks have been doing all that good of a job lately anyway.
Elon Musk has tried this “everything” app before with PayPal but failed. Have times changed so much since then that the concept is now much more likely to work?
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