X partners with Visa to launch X Money — Is Crypto Next?

Elon Musk envisions X (please don’t call it Twitter) as the ultimate “everything app,” drawing inspiration from China’s WeChat—a single platform that integrates social media, messaging, payments, e-commerce, and more. His ambition is to transform X into a digital town square where users can chat, share content, conduct business, and handle financial transactions seamlessly. Musk has hinted at adding features like peer-to-peer payments, banking services, and AI-driven utilities, effectively making X a Western alternative to WeChat.

However, the challenge lies in regulatory hurdles, user adoption, and whether people truly want one app to control so many aspects of their lives. If successful, Musk’s vision could redefine the internet, and crypto.

Source: Linda Yaccarino via X

Yaccarino expressed enthusiasm on X, announcing Visa as the first partner for the X Money Account, scheduled for launch later in the year. The collaboration seeks to enable instant payments, bank transfers, and smooth peer-to-peer transactions within X, reshaping digital financial interactions.

Visa, a global leader in payments, affirmed its commitment to the initiative. The company emphasized excitement about working with X Money on the rollout of X Money Account. Visa Direct will empower U.S. users to fund and transfer money instantly using debit cards.

“We’re excited to partner with X Money on the launch of X Money Account. Visa Direct will make it possible for U.S. X Money Account users to fund and transfer money in real-time with their debit card,” said Visa.

X Payments LLC, the platform’s financial arm, has already taken the necessary steps to operate legally across the United States. The company is registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and holds money transmitter licenses in 49 jurisdictions, including Washington, D.C. This regulatory compliance signals a serious push into the fintech industry, ensuring trust as X rolls out its financial services.

Musk has been working behind the scenes to secure the required licenses for over a year. X Payments LLC holds 41 state licenses and continues to expand its regulatory reach. This marks a key difference from past attempts at integrating financial tools into social media, giving X a solid foundation to operate nationwide.

Source: DogeDesigner on holds 41 state licenses

But as X pushes forward, competition is heating up. Apple, a dominant force in mobile payments, has faced accusations from U.S. regulators for allegedly blocking super apps from flourishing on its platform. The U.S. Justice Department has presented evidence that Apple, notorious for its closed garden ecosystem, sees these platforms as a threat to its ecosystem, particularly to services like Apple Pay.

X’s financial evolution isn’t just about payments—it’s about creating a unified digital ecosystem. Musk’s goal is to blend social networking, entertainment, and financial services into a single experience. The Visa partnership is a crucial step toward that future, allowing users to manage money with the same ease as sending a message.

This strategy aligns with Musk’s earlier ambition. Before acquiring X for $44 billion in 2022, he openly discussed his interest in launching a U.S.-based equivalent of WeChat—a super app offering messaging, video calls, streaming, and payments all in one place.

As Yaccarino put it, “First of many big announcements about X Money this year.” That statement leaves the door wide open for further developments in 2025, hinting that X’s transformation is only beginning.

That’s because Elon Musk’s vision for X as an everything app traces back to his PayPal days in the late 1990s when he co-founded X.com, an online banking startup. Musk envisioned X.com as a one-stop financial super-app, handling everything from payments to investments and even insurance. However, after merging with Confinity (which had developed PayPal), Musk was ousted as CEO, and the company pivoted towards focusing purely on online payments, eventually becoming the PayPal we know today.

Musk has long lamented that PayPal never fully realized his grand vision of a financial ecosystem beyond just payments. Fast forward to today, and he sees X as his second chance to build that vision—this time expanding beyond just finance to include social media, AI, entertainment, commerce, and more. His goal is to create a Western equivalent of WeChat, integrating messaging, payments, and services into a single digital hub. By acquiring Twitter, rebranding it as X, and pushing features like peer-to-peer payments, crypto, and banking services, Musk is essentially trying to finish what he started with X.com over two decades ago. Whether he can overcome regulatory, adoption, and execution hurdles remains to be seen—but his PayPal-era dream is very much alive in X.

The prophecy is complete! Source: Doge Designer on X

The image above shows the evolution of Elon Musk’s branding for his vision of X, spanning over two decades. On the left, we see the original logo for X.com, the online banking startup Musk co-founded in 1999. X.com was intended to be a groundbreaking financial platform offering banking, payments, and investments under one roof, but the vision was never fully realized due to company pivots and Musk’s departure from leadership.

On the right, we see the modern X Money logo, a component of Musk’s larger effort to reimagine X as an “everything app.” This branding represents Musk reviving and expanding the ambitions of X.com, incorporating not only financial services but also social media, commerce, AI, and entertainment. It’s a symbolic continuation of Musk’s obsession with the “X” brand and his drive to create a platform that integrates multiple aspects of digital life into one unified ecosystem.

With X rapidly integrating financial tools, many are now speculating whether cryptocurrency will play a role in the new platform. The company has already experimented with digital assets in the past. Under Jack Dorsey’s leadership, Twitter introduced a Bitcoin tipping feature in 2021, allowing users to receive payments in the world’s most popular cryptocurrency.

While there’s no official confirmation yet, Musk’s history with crypto suggests it could become part of X Money’s long-term plans. In November 2022, he hinted at future banking features, including a high-yield money market account. Given his past enthusiasm for Dogecoin and Bitcoin, it wouldn’t be surprising if crypto payments eventually entered the mix.

In fact, we would be surprised if Dogecoin was not integrated into X in 2025. We think it’s a sure bet. Dogecoin to the moon, and yes, that means the dogecoin price to a dollar in 2025.

Dogecoin to the Moon, a meme posted on X, by Elon Musk associate Doge Designer, Source: X