The multi-billionaire businessman Elon Musk wants to turn Twitter into a comprehensive platform for financial services. According to Bloomberg, this bold endeavor is not the first time an internet giant has intruded into Jamie Dimon’s domain.
According to a Bloomberg study, several technology companies have entered the financial services industry with similar goals. For instance, Facebook invested a sizable amount of money in the Libra project, which attempted to transform international payments.
However, the initiative had to be shelved because of regulatory scrutiny. Similar to this, Google had intentions to develop a digital financial solution and had already lined up 11 banking partners. However, the entire scheme was abruptly abandoned.
Additionally, Amazon.com Inc. looked at the potential of offering bank accounts to customers, but the experiment eventually failed.
Due to difficult competition and drawn-out regulatory processes, US internet businesses have frequently had to scale back their early objectives when attempting to compete with established banking giants.
With his unusual approach to business choices, Elon Musk distinguishes himself from other tech leaders. This is demonstrated by the unexpected changes he has made at Twitter, such as swapping out the company’s distinctive bird-based logo for the letter X.
Additionally, because he founded the business that is now known as PayPal Holdings Inc., Elon Musk has previous expertise working in the financial technology industry.
Pranav Sood, executive general manager of cross-border payments provider Airwallex, said: “I’m not suggesting in any way that he can’t do it.”
However, Sood continues, “it requires time and money because you have to make sure that you execute things correctly in order to be compliant internationally.”
According to reports, Elon Musk’s proposed X app would integrate Twitter’s core technology with X.com, which is now used as a Twitter routing service. Communication, multimedia, and the extensive functionality needed to manage one’s whole financial life will all be included in this ground-breaking software.
Twitter’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, revealed that the X app will include fintech elements, such as payments and banking capabilities, in comments endorsing Musk’s ambitious redesign.
Twitter has successfully received money-transmitter licenses in four U.S. states, notably Arizona, Michigan, Missouri, and New Hampshire, to open the door for this financial integration.
According to the story, Elon Musk tweeted about his vision for Twitter in 2022, when he was acquiring the social media network, saying he wanted it to be similar to Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat platform.
Over a billion people use WeChat every day, a messaging service turned super-app, in China. Musk wanted to turn Twitter into a similarly versatile platform, emulating the success of WeChat as a finance giant.
Users of the envisioned Twitter would be able to send money to one another, pay for products and services, and even have access to borrowing possibilities, similar to WeChat.
Elon Musk would not be making his first foray into payments. He relocated to Silicon Valley during the dot-com boom, when he started a business first called X.com that eventually became the well-known PayPal.
Musk’s fortunes significantly changed once he sold PayPal to eBay Inc., which was his first substantial achievement.
Despite chances in the banking industry, Musk chose to turn down “several high-paid jobs on Wall Street” in order to concentrate on technology.
This choice has unquestionably been successful. He currently holds the title of the richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with a mind-blowing net worth of $238.9 billion.
According to the Bloomberg article, customers will need to get familiar with a firm that has a brand-new product name and its own unique set of financial issues in order to integrate banking and payment functions into the platform. These difficulties have been exacerbated by Musk’s choice to shackle Twitter with expensive debt.
However, users will need to accept these changes and Twitter’s new orientation if the goal of a full financial services platform is to become a reality.
