Musk Says X Will Be Financial Service Hub by 2024

Elon Musk reportedly expects X to transform into a payments super app by next year.

“When I say payments, I actually mean someone’s entire financial life,” Musk said during a company all-hands call last week, per a report by the Verge.

“If it involves money, it’ll be on our platform. Money or securities or whatever. So, it’s not just like send $20 to my friend. I’m talking about, like, you won’t need a bank account.”

According to the report, X CEO Linda Yaccarino said the company sees this becoming a “full opportunity” in 2024.

“It would blow my mind if we don’t have that rolled out by the end of next year,” Musk added.

The Verge noted that X is working on securing money transmission licenses across the U.S. so that it can offer financial services, and Musk told employees that he hopes to obtain the others X needs in “the next few months.”

This isn’t the first time Musk has mentioned his vision of X as a financial super app, or an “everything app.” The company — formerly Twitter — gets its name from his X.com, which ultimately became part of PayPal.

In April, Musk spoke of a day when X — still being called Twitter — would see its valuation balloon to $250 billion, putting it in the same neighborhood as Bank of America, and becoming not just a PayPal rival but also “the biggest financial institution in the world.”

But what would it mean for X to become a super app? PYMNTS examined this question in August in a conversation with Amias Gerety, partner at QED Investors.

“I think a lot of people focus on how X might do micro payments and [integrate that functionality],” Gerety told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster. “But I think, actually, the better place to start is, how many people actually use the platform?

“Journalists and politically engaged millennials are not necessarily the right place to start in terms of brand permission to start to take over people’s lives [with super app capabilities],” Gerety continued. “Does X even have the brand permission to get into people’s wallets?”

And as PYMNTS wrote earlier this year, one major obstacle facing X’s plan is the trust factor, as more than half of consumers trust their financial institutions over other companies to provide a safe super app.