Musk’s X Secures Visa Deal to Power Payment Services

The X logo on a smartphone screen in Los Angeles, Calif., on July 31, 2023. Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images

Elon Musk’s social media platform X will soon join the digital payments ecosystem, reaching a deal with payments titan Visa.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced in a Jan. 28 post that Visa will be the first partner for the X Money account, which will debut later this year.

Like Venmo or Zelle, the latest move enables social network users to fund their X Wallet through Visa Direct instantly. Individuals can also execute immediate peer-to-peer payments.

Visa said it is looking forward to collaborating with X Money.

“We’re excited to partner with @XMoney on the launch of X Money Account,” the largest U.S. credit card network wrote on X. “Visa Direct will make it possible for US X Money Account users to fund and transfer money in real-time with their debit card.”

The announcement is another development in X transforming into a Swiss army knife of mobile applications, says Yaccarino.

“Another milestone for the Everything App: @Visa is our first partner for the @XMoney Account, which will debut later this year,” Yaccarino said.

Musk and his team have been working behind the scenes for the past year by applying for money transmitter licenses.

The X Payments website shows that it is licensed in 41 states and already registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

The digital payments industry has grown exponentially since the onset of the pandemic, with increasing demand for peer-to-peer payments through smartphones.

This trend forced Visa and Mastercard to accelerate their investments in this space, competing with multiple industry behemoths, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal.

But X is shooting to become a super app.

The Everything App

When Musk acquired the social media platform for $44 billion in 2022, the billionaire aimed to create a super app comparable to all-encompassing platforms in Asia, such as Tencent’s WeChat in China or India’s Tat Neu.

These Everything Apps provide a broad array of services, including instant and voice messaging, video games, video conferencing, food delivery, ride-hailing, and other e-commerce options.

Earlier this month, Musk recommended software engineers contact X to be hired to help to construct an Everything App.

“We don’t care where you went to school or even whether you went to school or what “big name” company you worked at,” the Tesla Motors and Space X CEO said. “Just show us your code.”

X’s tentacles will be touching various other areas in the coming year, according to Yaccarino.

“In 2024, X changed the world. Now, YOU are the media!” she wrote in a Dec. 31 post, “2025 X will connect you in ways never thought possible. X TV, X Money, Grok, and more.”

Last year, beta versions of the X TV app went live on Android, Amazon Fire, and LG televisions, “with more integrations coming soon.”

In recent months, reports have emerged that X is working on collaborating with various sports leagues to broadcast games on the website.

In August 2024, X published the stable version of Grok, an artificial intelligence chatbot comparable to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

The generative AI model can offer real-time news, produce images, analyze PDFs, summarize large texts, and more.

X, previously known as Twitter, CEO Linda Yaccarino testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington on Jan. 31, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Community Notes has also been an integral function of X. This tool allows users to produce context for mendacious or misleading posts collaboratively.

At the Consumer Electronics Show 2025 in Las Vegas, Yaccarino signaled other features to bolster creator opportunities would be coming.

“X is changing the way people engage with social media, and we’re just getting started,” she said in her keynote address.

After fleeing the platform, many top brands, including Comcast, Disney, IBM, and Warner Bros., have returned and resumed ad spending on the platform.

“Just want to say that we super appreciate major brands resuming on our platform!” Musk said. “Thanks, @lindayaX and the whole X for your hard work in restoring confidence in our platform and ensuring that advertising content only appears where advertisers want it shown.”

Whether there is a demand among X users to utilize this payment service—and countless others—remains to be seen. That said, it does have a large and active user base.

According to numbers shared by Musk last month, it is an immensely popular platform, with 1 billion total active users.