X announces Visa partnership for X Money in step towards becoming an ‘everything app’

X Inc., the company previously known as Twitter, announced today that it had signed a deal with Visa Inc. to become a founding partner for X Money Account, a new service that will provide a digital wallet and peer-to-peer payments.

Company Chief Executive Officer Linda Yaccarino said in a tweet that the new service, set to debut later this year, will allow for secure and instant funding to X Wallets via Visa Direct, will connect to existing debit cards of P2P payments and will have the option to instantly transfer funds to your bank account.

Yaccarino added that today’s announcement was the “first of many big announcements about X Money this year.”

The only surprise with the announcement is that it took longer than perhaps expected, as owner Elon Musk announced plans to seek a payment license as part of turning X into an “everything app” just shy of two years ago – Jan. 30, 2023.

Musk had previously laid out his plans to turn X into an everything app, akin to China’s WeChat app, after acquiring Twitter in November 2023. Musk noted at the time that he believed that X (still then Twitter) should be a place for news consumption, entertainment and financial transactions.

China’s WeChat allows users of the app to make payments everywhere and for everything in mainland China, down to tipping street buskers. It’s one of the country’s two largest payment processors alongside Ant Group Co. Ltd.’s AliPay.

WeChat also offers video and voice calling, translation services, mini apps including games, e-commerce, customer relationship management, live streaming video, internet search and maps. Whether Musk plans to go that far as all those services with X is yet to be seen, but the idea is a proven one in China and could be replicated with X, with financial payments being one step into achieving his overall everything app goal.

According to a “person with knowledge of the situation” who spoke with CNBC, the X Money service is expected to launch in the first quarter, with new deals with more financial partners likely. The same source claimed that one of the first use cases for X Money would be to allow creators on the site to accept payments and store funds without external institutions.

Image: SiliconANGLE/Microsoft Designer