Elon Musk is propelling his aspirations to transform the company known as X (formerly Twitter) into an “everything app” encompassing its proprietary payment system. Recently, the company acquired three additional money transmitter licenses in the U.S. states of South Dakota, Kansas, and Wyoming in late November, extending its authorized engagement in money transfers to 12 states.
Other states having previously awarded the company this license include Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Each license was secured this year, with New Hampshire being the first in June.
The states of Arizona, Michigan, and Missouri were licensed in July, followed by Georgia, Maryland, and Rhode Island in August, and then Iowa and Mississippi in September. X Payments LLC, previously Twitter Payments LLC, holds these registrations and will oversee X’s money transfer operations. While the license name may differ among states, each one permits X to process payments or facilitate money transfers in that state.
Musk confirmed these licensing acquisitions in a post on X, responding to a report by The Street which highlighted the November 27 addition of South Dakota. Despite the report mentioning that the company was registered in 10 states as per the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System’s database, the platform now reveals the most recent additions.
“Progress” is all Musk had to say about the recent license acquisitions.
However, he has previously voiced his plans to evolve X into a payments platform, detailing his vision after the acquisition. He envisages X (formerly Twitter) as a space where users could transfer money to others, withdraw funds to authorized bank accounts, and potentially later, invest in a high-yield money market account encouraging people to keep their money with X. This strategy puts X in competition with PayPal, a company that Musk co-founded through a merger with his X.com. Reviving his initial vision for X.com, Musk now aims to disrupt the existing banking system with Twitter. It remains uncertain whether the integration of cryptocurrencies will be part of this transition, but a money transmitter license is required for X to support cryptocurrencies.
Payments are also crucial to X’s greater stride into the creator economy, allowing X users with a minimum of 500 followers and 5 million organic impressions on their posts over the past three months to qualify for ad revenue sharing.
However, X’s ad monetization capabilities have recently hit a bump due to Musk’s endorsement of an antisemitic post on the platform and reports of brands’ campaigns appearing adjacent to hate speech. Consequently, X has lost a number of major advertisers including Apple, Disney, IBM, Paramount, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, Comcast/NBCU, Walmart, and others. A deal with Paris Hilton’s 11:11 Media was also lost, which was meant to promote X’s live audio, live video, and live shopping. Musk’s antagonistic response to Hilton after the deal collapsed may spell trouble for X’s monetization plans, and therefore its ambitions in the creator economy and payments.
The company plans to shift its focus on small business advertisers in the near term and intends to provide Musk’s new AI, Grok, to X’s paid subscribers as an additional revenue source.
