Elon Musk’s X aims to add financial services to its long list of features to increase engagement and compete with apps such as Venmo and Cash App.
X has submitted applications in 11 states in a bid to receive money transfer licenses that would let the platform advance with its plan to launch X Payments. The new feature would work similarly to PayPal and Venmo, letting users transfer money to other users, store money and purchase products all through X.
According to the applications submitted to state regulators, X doesn’t plan to charge users a fee to use the service, indicating X Payments would be available to all X users. This would run counter to the way other new features on X have been treated, with users needing to have X Premium for Grok and subscriptions.
The real goal with X Payments appears to be engagement. Increased competition from other social media platforms like Bluesky and Threads has dented X’s daily active user numbers.
With the adoption of X Payments, Mr. Musk is one step closer to turning his platform into what he calls an everything app. The billionaire owner says he hopes users can have their entire financial life on X.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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