Elon Musk wants to turn X into an “everything app” — including a place to store, send, and spend money, according to documents made public by Bloomberg.
The documents, which were submitted to state regulators by the company and obtained by Bloomberg Businessweek through public-records requests, show X plans to have a Venmo-like feature where users can store money, pay other users or businesses, and shop at physical stores with their account. The documents also show X doesn’t plan to charge users significant fees for the service. X has told regulators the payment service could lead to “increased participation and engagement” on the app, which would in turn improve business.
X will reportedly give users access to a dashboard showing payments activities. The dashboard will also be where users can send, receive, and store money on their X account. A plan submitted to Massachusetts regulators shows X plans to charge users small fees for some transactions, but that “Twitter Payments does not anticipate charging fees for all of its Services, as the overall goal of the Services is to help increase participation and engagement on the X Platform,” according to Bloomberg.
According to X, a wholly owned subsidiary of X called X Payments is licensed to transmit money in 28 states. X wants licenses in all 50 states, and aims to launch X Payments later this year, Bloomberg reported, adding that emails show it is expecting a multi-year process to get the licenses. The company reportedly wanted to launch X Payments internationally this year, but received regulatory pushback and paused its efforts.
In April, Musk said new users to the platform would have to pay a small fee to post, because it “is the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots.” It is also likely an effort by the company to make money as it loses value under Musk’s leadership.