Elon Musk announces launch of X Money next month

Elon Musk announced X Money would launch from next month. The platform will offer payment and yield services, and may potentially compete with existing crypto apps. 

Elon Musk announced X will start including X Money for users, entering an early public launch in April. The X Money addition is a digital wallet and payment service built within the X app. 

Musk has hinted multiple times at X adding some kind of payment tools, in a bid to become the ‘everything app’. The announcement arrives after X changed its policies for crypto influencers, adding cashtags, but limiting other activities like InfoFi apps. 

Musk’s plan was to create a one-stop app where communication and payments are seamless. X Money will combine features targeting regular users, as well as content creators. Musk has returned to the original plan of launching an app that encompasses all financial needs and decisions, from payments to investments. 

X Money combines seamless payments with content monetization

X Money will offer instant P2P payments to X users. However, the P2P payments will not be linked to a native chain. In the past, X Money has attracted the attention of crypto developers, giving them the opportunity to use a public network like Solana. 

However, the X Money platform will use Visa Direct payments, handling payments in real time with no interbank clearing. 

The app will also offer virtual and physical debit cards with 1% cashback, will handle bills and banking, and will be used for content monetization. 

X Money will first launch in the US, where it has received authorization in most states. The end goal is to offer X Money worldwide. The app is also planned to have significant daily withdrawal and deposit limits, potentially serving users at scale. 

Will X Money include crypto payments? 

Initially, X Money will start with fiat payments in dollars, using the usual financial infrastructure. As with other fintech apps, the plan is to also include major crypto assets. 

Earlier, X Money information has pointed to BTC, ETH, and DOGE as potentially the first digital assets within the app. Previously, there were rumors X Money may be integrated with Ripple, but the partnership only spreads to Cross River Bank, and not explicitly to using the XRPL network. This time, crypto assets did not react to the news of X Money, as the Elon Musk effect lost its power during the bear market. DOGE remained in its usual range around $0.09. 

Currently, X has unofficial tools for crypto payments and tokenization. Solana’s Phantom Wallet allows payments to X users and is integrated with X features. 

X Money will also offer an annualized yield of up to 6% and up to $250,000 in deposit insurance. The app will not achieve the yield through DeFi rails, instead relying fully on traditional finance.