X money beta timeline: payments push details

During a recent internal presentation, Elon Musk detailed plans for the upcoming x money beta while stressing that payments will sit at the core of the X platform.

X Money moves from internal testing to limited external launch

Elon Musk confirmed that X Money is already running inside the company in a closed beta. He revealed that staff have tested the payments service for a period of time, suggesting core systems are in place even before public access begins.

During an xAI all-hands presentation on Wednesday, Musk said a limited external beta should go live in the next 1–2 months. However, he did not commit to a specific calendar date, signaling that technical and regulatory milestones may still shape the rollout.

Musk described this first public phase as deliberately constrained in scope. Moreover, he emphasized that the initial release will act as a proving ground before the service expands to a wider audience.

He told employees that the first step will be a small external test with selected users, followed by gradual geographic expansion. That said, Musk reiterated that the eventual target is to make the service available to X users worldwide once early feedback and compliance checks are complete.

Musk positions X Money as core transaction hub on X

Musk framed the payments product as a central element of his broader vision for the platform. According to him, the goal is to turn X into a place where users can communicate, watch content, and also move funds without leaving the app.

He said X Money is “intended to be the place where all money is” on the platform and called it “the central source of all monetary transactions.” Moreover, he tied that ambition to higher engagement, arguing that new services should push more day-to-day activity into the app.

In the same talk, Musk shared user metrics to highlight the potential reach. He said X has about 1 billion installed users, with average monthly users around 600 million. However, he suggested there is still headroom to increase daily usage as financial tools roll out.

Musk added that as X offers more integrated services, the app could handle a growing share of users’ daily lives. He described a future in which, if people choose, they “could live your life on the X app,” using it for communication, content, and payments in one place.

Planned capabilities and unanswered questions on features

For the x money beta, Musk said the product is designed as a single hub for financial activity inside the platform. However, X has not yet detailed specific features for the external test, leaving many practical questions open for early adopters.

The company has not disclosed expected fee structures, transfer limits, or the list of supported countries for the first wave of users. Moreover, it has not explained how participants in the limited external beta will be chosen or whether sign-ups will be available to the general public.

Early functionality is expected to center on peer-to-peer transfers between X accounts. Musk indicated that the service should later support broader payment flows inside the app, potentially including merchant interactions and creator payouts as the ecosystem matures.

He also portrayed payments as integrated with other tools on the platform, referencing communications features and Grok alongside financial services. That said, X has provided no technical documentation yet that describes how these systems will connect in production.

Earlier payments testing, Visa partnership, and XChat rollout

X has pursued payments functionality since Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022 and later rebranded the service as X. Since the acquisition, the platform has pushed into AI tools and long-form video, and X Money now adds a financial layer on top of those initiatives.

In early 2025, the company began beta testing wallet features and person-to-person payments. The effort included a collaboration with Visa, according to earlier corporate statements. However, Musk has not outlined how that work connects to the current closed beta that staff are using.

Alongside payments, X has rolled out XChat, an encrypted messaging system that consolidates direct messages into a single inbox. The company has positioned XChat as a way to tighten privacy and simplify conversations within the app.

Musk has compared XChat’s security protections to “Bitcoin-level encryption,” invoking the robustness of cryptographic systems used in digital assets. That said, X has not yet released full technical specifications for public review or for independent security audits.

Unclear crypto roadmap and remaining regulatory questions

Despite Musk’s longstanding interest in digital assets, the company has not confirmed any crypto support inside X Money. During his recent remarks, he did not reference any specific tokens, networks, or on-chain integrations tied to the payments service.

The company has also avoided publishing a formal crypto roadmap for the product. Moreover, it has not answered whether any future integrations would rely on existing blockchains or on internal settlement infrastructure that only uses fiat rails.

Regulatory details around the payments service remain limited as well. X has not publicly listed which licenses it holds in key jurisdictions or how compliance checks will work for the external beta. However, those questions will be central as the system scales beyond a small test group.

For now, Musk has presented the x money external beta as another step toward turning X into a more complete financial and communications platform. The exact shape of the product, including any crypto features, will become clearer only once public users begin testing it.

In summary, Musk is pushing X from social network to multipurpose platform, with X Money positioned as a core payments layer that will emerge gradually from internal trials into a limited external beta over the coming months.