Elon Musk teases X’s new financial feature, says, ‘You won’t need a bank…’

As reported by The Verge, in a recent announcement to employees, Elon Musk conveyed his expectation of obtaining the remaining licenses that X requires within the next few months, further advancing the company’s goals in the financial sector.

Meanwhile, the company is presently focused on securing money transmission licenses across the United States as part of its efforts to provide financial services.

Also Read: ‘Not just numbers’, Elon Musk goes emotional on Tesla earnings call; Analysts call him ‘little baby’

In an all-hands call with X employees, “When I say payments, I actually mean someone’s entire financial life,” Musk said, according to audio of the meeting obtained by The Verge. “If it involves money. It’ll be on our platform. Money or securities or whatever. So, it’s not just like send $20 to my friend. I’m talking about, like, you won’t need a bank account.”

Also Read: Elon Musk’s ambitious move: Transforming Twitter into a financial services powerhouse

Moreover, Musk has prior experience in the financial technology sector, as he was the founder of the company now recognized as PayPal Holdings Inc.

“The X/PayPal product roadmap was written by myself and David Sacks actually in July of 2000,” Musk said, adding “And for some reason PayPal, once it became eBay, not only did they not implement the rest of the list, but they actually rolled back a bunch of key features, which is crazy. So PayPal is actually a less complete product than what we came up with in July of 2000, so 23 years ago” The Verge reported.

Also Read: X rolls out audio and video calling feature: A guide on how to use it

Earlier in July, Bloomberg reported that in messages expressing support for Musk’s ambitious overhaul, Twitter’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, confirmed that the X app would incorporate fintech features, including payments and banking capabilities. To pave the way for this financial integration, Twitter has successfully obtained money-transmitter licenses in four US states, namely Arizona, Michigan, Missouri, and New Hampshire.

According to the report, in 2022, when Elon Musk acquired the social media platform, he used Twitter to communicate his vision. In his tweets, he conveyed his aspiration for Twitter to adopt a model similar to that of Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Updated: 27 Oct 2023, 09:33 AM IST