The news: Elon Musk confirms that X Money has entered limited beta testing, per an X (formerly Twitter) post on May 25. This continues Musk’s ambitions to turn X into an “everything app.”

How we got here: After his $44 billion acquisition of the platform in 2022, Musk has had his designs on rapidly expanding the social media platform into a behemoth. Reality has been slower than expectations—Musk had expected X Money to launch in mid-2024.

X is developing a digital dashboard that would facilitate sending and receiving P2P payments. It also has secured 39 state payments licenses.

Forward momentum: Visa announced a partnership with the platform this January that will enable instant funding through Visa Direct for X Wallet for users. 

• Visa Direct can transfer funds to US bank accounts in one minute or less. 
• X can use Direct’s speed to lure in more adopters of X Money, especially if it can keep the service free or with competitive rates.

Visa’s association with Musk’s app also lends the project credibility and security. 

Our take: Musk’s takeover of Twitter into X has been a rocky ride. Advertiser fled the platform after a litany of scandals, cutting into its bottom line and gnawing away its users’ trust.