Elon Musk’s plans for a finance app are well documented and pre-date his Twitter acquisition.
Acquiring a Rhode Island Currency Transmitter License and other licenses positions X for crypto.
Over the past few years, Elon Musk has appeared to influence the crypto markets almost by accident, and without becoming an advocate for crypto. When he tweeted about Dogecoin, the cost of the coin rose, and when he posted (accidentally or knowingly, we can’t be sure) images from NFT collections, prices temporarily shot up on those collections.
And, of course, Tesla, for a very short time, accepted bitcoin payments, while also holding BTC on its balance sheet. In fact, it still holds BTC, but less than before, and bitcoin payments have yet to be reinstated.
All of which brings us to X, formerly known as Twitter, and now under Musk’s stewardship as owner and chief pot-stirrer. The changes have flown in thick and fast since Musk took over, and a key pivot that appears to be in process is a turn towards X as not just a social media app, but also as a payments platform. And if X is to be used for payments, then how exactly does crypto fit into the equation?
Rhode Island Currency Transmitter License Acquired
The latest round of speculation among crypto observers came at the end of August when it became known that X had acquired a Rhode Island Currency Transmitter License. This is a requirement under Rhode Island law for businesses that want to transmit money for customers, and it also extends to cryptocurrency, being required (according to official documents) for “maintaining control of virtual currency or transactions in virtual currency on behalf of others.”
What’s more, this is the eighth state for which X has acquired this type of license, but the Rhode Island license seems like a strategic acquisition, as it’s one of 23 that make up a Multi-state Licensing Agreement for Financial Services Companies, thereby covering X not only in Rhode Island, but across 22 states at the same time.
Acquiring these licenses certainly moves X towards a capacity for crypto integration, but they are not exclusively for crypto use and are used also by businesses dealing in traditional payments. We might ask then, whether there are any other indications that Musk intends to take X in a crypto-integrated direction.
This echoes Twitter’s agreement with the trading platform eToro, initiated in April this year, whereby searching for a stock or crypto ticker on Twitter/X brings up price charts and the option to click straight through to eToro. It’s not primarily crypto-oriented, but crypto becomes part of the package when finance-related changes are implemented.
We might ask, then, whether there are any other indications that Musk intends to take X in a crypto direction.
Twitter Crypto Links Predate Musk
As mentioned, Musk’s tweets have covered Doge and NFTs, and Tesla temporarily accepted BTC payments. Also, there was also a brief stint earlier this year when theTwitter logo was temporarily changed to a Doge logo. All of this caused plenty of amused chatter but, aside from the Tesla BTC payments, it isn’t substantial.
Looking back at Twitter when the original Co-Founder Jack Dorsey was in charge, we can find that an interest in blockchain integration has been present for some time. In 2021, Dorsey enabled a BTC tipping service, and in 2022, that was extended to include Ether. That same year saw the inclusion of a facility for users to link their accounts with NFTs in their possession, along with a partnership with the payments platform Stripe to pilot enabling USDC stablecoin payments.
Experiments with the Everything App
After Musk took over, he stated the direction in which he wanted to take Twitter, drawing unambiguous comparisons with Chinese app WeChat: “If you’re in China, you kind of live on WeChat. It does everything, sort of like Twitter, plus PayPal, plus a whole bunch of things, and all rolled into one, with a great interface.”
And, he also said: "Where you sort of have a high trust situation, then payments, whether it's crypto or fiat, can make a lot of sense.”
This brings us to Musk’s rebranding of Twitter as X, which relates back to his 1999 plans for an online bank called X.com, which he said at the time (according to Musk's biographer, Walter Isaacson, and confirmed by Musk) was to incorporate all financial needs, with instant transactions.
In explaining this, Isaacson cited a revealing quote from Musk, from that period: “If you fix all the reasons why a consumer would take money out of the system, then [X.com] will be the place where all the money is, and that would make it a multi trillion-dollar company.”
X.com went on, after a merger with Peter Thiel’s Confinity, to become PayPal, a name that Musk wasn’t in favor of. In fact, he stated that: “If you want to take over the world’s financial system, then X is the better name.”
That’s a line which should be at the forefront of our thoughts when considering why Musk took Twitter and changed its name to that two decades old favorite of his: X. Although if anyone is still in any doubt about his intentions, here are Musk’s words to Isaacson, from just before the Twitter takeover: “I am very excited about finally implementing X.com as it should have been done, using Twitter as an accelerant!”
In addition, Musk has talked about using X to “conduct your entire financial world” (keep in mind that the entire financial world now includes crypto), and famously tweeted about his vision for “the everything app.”
The Most Entertaining Outcome
It’s clear that payment platform functions are integral to Musk’s plans to turn X, formerly Twitter, into that all-inclusive everything app. And, as crypto marches on and gains acceptance, while Musk is evidently tuned into the crypto space and its memes, it’s increasingly apparent that crypto is likely to feature in those plans for the app. This likelihood is backed up by X’s newly acquired currency transmitter licenses and carries on from earlier implementations made by the previous ownership.
It’s also worth taking note of another line from Musk, broadcasted to the world through X: "the most entertaining outcome is the most likely."
Keeping that message in mind, we should ask, what now is the most entertaining outcome for X? Is it to stay close to the orthodoxies of traditional finance, or to integrate crypto, and all its disruptive potential?
Over the past few years, Elon Musk has appeared to influence the crypto markets almost by accident, and without becoming an advocate for crypto. When he tweeted about Dogecoin, the cost of the coin rose, and when he posted (accidentally or knowingly, we can’t be sure) images from NFT collections, prices temporarily shot up on those collections.
And, of course, Tesla, for a very short time, accepted bitcoin payments, while also holding BTC on its balance sheet. In fact, it still holds BTC, but less than before, and bitcoin payments have yet to be reinstated.
All of which brings us to X, formerly known as Twitter, and now under Musk’s stewardship as owner and chief pot-stirrer. The changes have flown in thick and fast since Musk took over, and a key pivot that appears to be in process is a turn towards X as not just a social media app, but also as a payments platform. And if X is to be used for payments, then how exactly does crypto fit into the equation?
Rhode Island Currency Transmitter License Acquired
The latest round of speculation among crypto observers came at the end of August when it became known that X had acquired a Rhode Island Currency Transmitter License. This is a requirement under Rhode Island law for businesses that want to transmit money for customers, and it also extends to cryptocurrency, being required (according to official documents) for “maintaining control of virtual currency or transactions in virtual currency on behalf of others.”
What’s more, this is the eighth state for which X has acquired this type of license, but the Rhode Island license seems like a strategic acquisition, as it’s one of 23 that make up a Multi-state Licensing Agreement for Financial Services Companies, thereby covering X not only in Rhode Island, but across 22 states at the same time.
Acquiring these licenses certainly moves X towards a capacity for crypto integration, but they are not exclusively for crypto use and are used also by businesses dealing in traditional payments. We might ask then, whether there are any other indications that Musk intends to take X in a crypto-integrated direction.
This echoes Twitter’s agreement with the trading platform eToro, initiated in April this year, whereby searching for a stock or crypto ticker on Twitter/X brings up price charts and the option to click straight through to eToro. It’s not primarily crypto-oriented, but crypto becomes part of the package when finance-related changes are implemented.
We might ask, then, whether there are any other indications that Musk intends to take X in a crypto direction.
Twitter Crypto Links Predate Musk
As mentioned, Musk’s tweets have covered Doge and NFTs, and Tesla temporarily accepted BTC payments. Also, there was also a brief stint earlier this year when theTwitter logo was temporarily changed to a Doge logo. All of this caused plenty of amused chatter but, aside from the Tesla BTC payments, it isn’t substantial.
Looking back at Twitter when the original Co-Founder Jack Dorsey was in charge, we can find that an interest in blockchain integration has been present for some time. In 2021, Dorsey enabled a BTC tipping service, and in 2022, that was extended to include Ether. That same year saw the inclusion of a facility for users to link their accounts with NFTs in their possession, along with a partnership with the payments platform Stripe to pilot enabling USDC stablecoin payments.
Experiments with the Everything App
After Musk took over, he stated the direction in which he wanted to take Twitter, drawing unambiguous comparisons with Chinese app WeChat: “If you’re in China, you kind of live on WeChat. It does everything, sort of like Twitter, plus PayPal, plus a whole bunch of things, and all rolled into one, with a great interface.”
And, he also said: "Where you sort of have a high trust situation, then payments, whether it's crypto or fiat, can make a lot of sense.”
This brings us to Musk’s rebranding of Twitter as X, which relates back to his 1999 plans for an online bank called X.com, which he said at the time (according to Musk's biographer, Walter Isaacson, and confirmed by Musk) was to incorporate all financial needs, with instant transactions.
In explaining this, Isaacson cited a revealing quote from Musk, from that period: “If you fix all the reasons why a consumer would take money out of the system, then [X.com] will be the place where all the money is, and that would make it a multi trillion-dollar company.”
X.com went on, after a merger with Peter Thiel’s Confinity, to become PayPal, a name that Musk wasn’t in favor of. In fact, he stated that: “If you want to take over the world’s financial system, then X is the better name.”
That’s a line which should be at the forefront of our thoughts when considering why Musk took Twitter and changed its name to that two decades old favorite of his: X. Although if anyone is still in any doubt about his intentions, here are Musk’s words to Isaacson, from just before the Twitter takeover: “I am very excited about finally implementing X.com as it should have been done, using Twitter as an accelerant!”
In addition, Musk has talked about using X to “conduct your entire financial world” (keep in mind that the entire financial world now includes crypto), and famously tweeted about his vision for “the everything app.”
The Most Entertaining Outcome
It’s clear that payment platform functions are integral to Musk’s plans to turn X, formerly Twitter, into that all-inclusive everything app. And, as crypto marches on and gains acceptance, while Musk is evidently tuned into the crypto space and its memes, it’s increasingly apparent that crypto is likely to feature in those plans for the app. This likelihood is backed up by X’s newly acquired currency transmitter licenses and carries on from earlier implementations made by the previous ownership.
It’s also worth taking note of another line from Musk, broadcasted to the world through X: "the most entertaining outcome is the most likely."
Keeping that message in mind, we should ask, what now is the most entertaining outcome for X? Is it to stay close to the orthodoxies of traditional finance, or to integrate crypto, and all its disruptive potential?
Sam White is a writer and journalist from the UK who covers cryptocurrencies and web3, with a particular interest in NFTs and the crossover between art and finance. His work, on a wide variety of topics, has appeared on platforms including The Spectator, Vice and Hacker Noon.
Get ready to mark your calendars for FMAS:24, returning this May! Take a quick glimpse of what awaits at the Sandton Convention Centre in Sandton, South Africa from May 20-22, 2024.
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Get ready to mark your calendars for FMAS:24, returning this May! Take a quick glimpse of what awaits at the Sandton Convention Centre in Sandton, South Africa from May 20-22, 2024.
Don't miss out on this 5-second invite packed with energy and urgency!
Secure your free ticket now 🔗 https://events.financemagnates.com/yQx0l?utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=fmas-is-back&utm_medium=video&RefId=FMAS24+Video+Ad+%5B1%5D
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Here's a sneak peek into the FMAS:24 vibrant atmosphere! Join us at Africa’s premium financial event for a transformative experience that combines the best of finance and technology.
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Here's a sneak peek into the FMAS:24 vibrant atmosphere! Join us at Africa’s premium financial event for a transformative experience that combines the best of finance and technology.
From May 20-22, 2024, the Sandton Convention Centre in Sandton, South Africa, will be the hub for over 3,500 attendees to engage in unparalleled networking opportunities, learn from over 150 industry-leading speakers, and explore innovations from 120+ exhibitors.
Secure your free ticket now 🔗 https://events.financemagnates.com/yQx0l?utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=fmas-is-back&utm_medium=video&RefId=FMAS24+Video+Ad+%5B1%5D
#fmas24 #fmas #fmevents #financeinafrica #traders #investors #affiliates #forexTraders #investmentOpportunities #B2BNetworking #finTech #Innovations #TradingCommunity #BusinessOpportunities #AfricanBusiness #Johannesburg #southafrica
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Join 3500+ Attendees at FMAS:24 | Africa's Premium Financial Event
Join 3500+ Attendees at FMAS:24 | Africa's Premium Financial Event
Looking to expand your network in #Africa? Join 3500+ attendees at FMAS:24, where online trading, fintech, payments, and crypto meet! Connect with industry leaders and innovators for an unmatched networking experience.
20-22 MAY 2024
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Join 3500+ Attendees at FMAS:24 - Africa's Premium Financial Event
Join 3500+ Attendees at FMAS:24 - Africa's Premium Financial Event
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Where the Prop Trading Industry Goes from Here | Finance Magnates Podcast
Where the Prop Trading Industry Goes from Here | Finance Magnates Podcast
Explore the tumultuous world of prop trading in this Finance Magnates podcast episode, featuring insights from Head of Axi Select, Greg Rubin.
We're discussing the challenges and shifts caused by MetaQuotes' pivotal decisions affecting MT4 and MT5 users, and how Axi Select offers a unique, realistic path to professional trading, steering clear of traditional prop firm pitfalls.
Tune in for expert analysis on the future of trading and innovative funding models.
The Axi Select programme is only available to clients of AxiTrader Limited. CFDs carry a high risk of investment loss. In our dealings with you, we will act as a principal counterparty to all of your positions. This content is not available for AU, NZ, EU and UK residents. For more information, refer to our Terms of Service. Standard trading fees apply.
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Explore the tumultuous world of prop trading in this Finance Magnates podcast episode, featuring insights from Head of Axi Select, Greg Rubin.
We're discussing the challenges and shifts caused by MetaQuotes' pivotal decisions affecting MT4 and MT5 users, and how Axi Select offers a unique, realistic path to professional trading, steering clear of traditional prop firm pitfalls.
Tune in for expert analysis on the future of trading and innovative funding models.
The Axi Select programme is only available to clients of AxiTrader Limited. CFDs carry a high risk of investment loss. In our dealings with you, we will act as a principal counterparty to all of your positions. This content is not available for AU, NZ, EU and UK residents. For more information, refer to our Terms of Service. Standard trading fees apply.
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