Elon Musk has revealed plans for social media platform X – formerly Twitter – to begin rolling out financial features by the end of 2024.
During X’s first all-hands call since the renaming of the company, the billionaire businessman outlined his financial ambitions for the platform – which he wants to replace traditional bank accounts for consumers.
Musk said he wants ‘someone’s entire financial life’ to be on the platform, according to an audio of the October 26 meeting obtained by The Verge.
‘If it involves money. It’ll be on our platform. Money or securities or whatever,’ he reportedly said.
‘So, it’s not just like send $20 to my friend. I’m talking about, like, you won’t need a bank account.’
The billionaire businessman outlined his financial ambitions for the platform – which he wants to replace traditional bank accounts for consumers
Chief executive officer Linda Yaccarino, who took over the role from Musk in June, said the company sees this becoming a ‘full opportunity’ next year, The Verge reported.
‘It would blow my mind if we don’t have that rolled out by the end of next year,’ Musk said in the meeting, according to the outlet.
X is reportedly working on obtaining money transmission licenses in every US state in order to be able to offer financial services.
So far, the company has obtained licenses in nine states – including most recently Iowa and Mississippi – according to Business Insider.
Musk has referenced his desire to turn X into a financial hub previously, and even renamed Twitter after his dot-com-boom-era online bank, X.com, which eventually became part of PayPal.
Last year, he told employees the platform would offer high-yield money market accounts, debit cards, checks, and loan services, according to The Verge.
He said the goal was to let users ‘send money anywhere in the world instantly and in real-time.’
Instead of the ‘complex and expensive’ systems of traditional banks, he said users would have ‘one balance on Twitter that can simply go positive or negative.’
For places that do not accept Twitter – now X – payments, Musk said consumers would get a debit card tied to their balance – and even traditional checks if they want them.
It is familiar territory for Musk, who co-founded PayPal and was openly disappointed by eBay’s handling of the company when it was bought in 2002. The companies eventually split in 2015.
‘It would blow my mind if we don’t have that rolled out by the end of next year,’ Musk reportedly said during a company-wide call on October 26
Speaking at the most recent internal call, he said: ‘The X/PayPal product roadmap was written by myself and David Sacks actually in July of 2000.
‘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.’
Turning X into a digital bank directly plays into Musk’s desire to turn the social media platform, which he acquired just over a year ago for $44 billion, into an ‘everything app’ – akin to Chinese app WeChat.
WeChat is a one-stop-shop, offering instant messaging, social media, shopping and mobile payments.
During the internal call on October 26, Musk also expressed his desire to turn X into a ‘fully fledged’ dating site.