Visa is X-Money's first partner, Elon Musk's next step to the Everything App
X-Money uses Visa Direct to transfer money between users and also allows money transfers to your bank account. Payment functions will be added later this year.
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The short messaging service X, still known as Twitter, is taking a big step towards the “Everything App” proclaimed by owner Elon Musk, with which users can do almost anything. X has found its first partner for financial services in the credit card company Visa. With the help of Visa Direct, secure payments between so-called X-Money accounts and bookings to the user's own bank account will be possible, as X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced on X itself.
In the fall of 2023, X set out to become an all-in-one app and integrated audio and video calls. This is initially reserved for premium subscribers. However, a number of prerequisites and approvals are required for financial transactions. Twitter submitted its first applications to US authorities for payment services almost exactly two years ago, at the beginning of 2023. According to the social network, it now has licenses for money transfers in 41 states in the USA.
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However, this is not the first time that Twitter or X has allowed payments. Back in 2021, Twitter introduced a tipping function that allowed payments in Bitcoin worldwide. This was under the leadership of former CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey, before Elon Musk took over the platform in the fall of 2022 and immediately announced X as the Everything app.
X-Money via Visa Direct, still without Mastercard or Bitcoin
After additional forms of communication, X-Money accounts are also coming this year, as Yaccarino writes. X-Money will be linked to a Visa debit card for payments to enable secure transfers via Visa Direct. According to the credit card company, Visa Direct enables payouts to Visa cards and accounts within a few minutes, so this should also include X-Money accounts in the future. Whether Mastercard will also be brought on board and payments with cryptocurrency will be possible in future remains to be seen.
Although Linda Yaccarino does not specify a launch date for X-Money and only narrows it down to 2025, CNBC reports, citing people familiar with the matter, that the service will be available this quarter. In addition to Visa, other partners are to be added. The first functions of X-Money are expected to be payments to other X-users and the management of X-Money balances without external institutions.
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