Elon Musk wants X to become a payment platform within a year

X, formerly known as Twitter, under the leadership of owner Elon Musk, has gone from a regular social media platform to now striving to become the “everything app” by incorporating features such as video calling. Now, instead of fixing the widespread misinformation problem, Elon Musk has reportedly given employees one year to make X an inclusive payments platform.

According to the audio notes obtained by The Verge, Musk wants the app to not only support simple money transfers but also include loans, debit cards, savings, and global money transfers, thus rendering traditional bank accounts obsolete. “When I say payments, I actually mean someone’s entire financial life,” said Musk.

Why a payments platform?

The shift towards a payments platform stems from Musk’s previous venture, X.com, which merged with Confinity and ultimately evolved into PayPal. While this transformation might seem ambitious, considering X is currently a social media app, experts say this move is similar to other successful Chinese social media apps like WeChat, which also integrated various features, including payments.

Furthermore, current CEO Linda Yaccarino also expressed a strong belief in this transformation, identifying it as a significant opportunity for the company to take advantage of. However, it’s important to note that X still needs to get licenses for money transfers across the United States.

“We want money on X to flow as freely as information and conversation. We have already secured first money transmitter licenses in several states, and we are moving toward launching a global payment system – more soon,” said Linda.

Is it really the right way forward?

For the people who are wondering why the company is introducing a slew of new features, it is part of Musk’s vision to position X as the “everything app” for social conversations, video calling, and payments.

However, this report of Musk pushing for new features comes at a time when the EU has criticized the app for its inadequate measures to prevent misinformation, especially during the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. This is because, in its quest to promote paid users, X was promoting propaganda and disinformation.