NEW YORK — X is partnering with Visa to introduce a real-time payment system on its social media platform, marking a significant step in a long-term ambition from Elon Musk, the billionaire owner, to develop an “everything app.”
Visa will be the first collaborator for the upcoming “X Money Account” service, which is set to debut later this year, as announced by X CEO Linda Yaccarino in a post shared on Tuesday. The initiative will feature a digital wallet integrated into the platform, allowing for peer-to-peer payments linked to users’ debit cards, along with the ability to transfer funds to a bank account.
As per Visa’s Tuesday announcement on X, this payment service will operate on the Visa Direct system, which facilitates instant money transfers, and will cater exclusively to X Money Account users in the United States. However, it remains uncertain whether this service will expand to users in other countries or involve additional payment partners in the near future, and an exact launch date for the U.S. has not been disclosed yet.
In her announcement, Yaccarino referred to the partnership with Visa as a “milestone for the Everything App” and hinted at “many big announcements about X Money” forthcoming within the year.
The idea of X, previously known as Twitter, evolving into an “everything app” has been under discussion for quite some time. Before finalizing a $44 billion acquisition of the platform in 2022, Musk articulated a vision of creating a service akin to China’s WeChat—a so-called “super app” offering video chats, messaging, streaming, and payment features.
Musk’s intrigue with this concept predates the Twitter acquisition; he initially envisioned an “everything app” back in the late 1990s when he launched X.com, a startup that eventually became part of PayPal. Despite his efforts to diversify PayPal’s capabilities, he faced resistance from executives like Peter Thiel. PayPal was subsequently sold in 2002 to eBay for $1.5 billion, which allowed Musk to fund the establishment of SpaceX and invest in Tesla early on.
Today’s tech landscape is more competitive, with various companies striving to enhance their platform functionalities. Major social media entities, including Meta, the parent company of Facebook, have incorporated features such as shopping, gaming, and dating into their systems.
As consumers have access to various platforms for communication, payments, entertainment, and more, it remains to be seen how the forthcoming “everything” capabilities from X will fare. Since Musk’s takeover in 2022, the platform has reportedly alienated a segment of its user base and advertisers due to concerns regarding rising hate speech and misinformation.
X’s aspirations may also put it at odds with other dominant tech companies that are wary of potential competition. For instance, U.S. regulators have accused Apple of unlawfully leveraging its market power to hinder the emergence of super apps on its iPhones from 2017 on.
As part of a recent antitrust lawsuit, the U.S. Justice Department disclosed findings suggesting that Apple believed a super app could diminish consumer reliance on its own services, including payment processing. Apple has strongly denied these allegations and is working to persuade a federal court in New Jersey to dismiss the case entirely.
