Orrich Lawson | Stable Diffusion
“Acquiring Twitter is what drives the creation of X, which is every app,” said Twitter’s CEO. Elon Musk said Last October, just weeks before taking over control of the platform.
in a tweet, Musk meditated “I could be wrong,” he said, but he expects buying Twitter will provide him with the infrastructure to launch his own super app within the next three to five years. rice field. Whether Twitter becomes a division of X or vice versa, Musk will leverage Twitter’s millions of daily active US users to help Americans text, call and pay online. , planned to launch a very convenient platform where you can shop, bank and post.
To some experts, Musk’s proposal seems too ambitious or even impossible. U.S. regulators are beginning to scrutinize both antitrust concerns at technology companies and the rapid technological developments in the financial industry more carefully. Attempts by big tech companies chasing the success of WeChat, which is widely used in China, to launch their own super-apps will become increasingly difficult as these areas come under increased scrutiny. It has become. But as Musk told the audience at his Baron Investment Conference last year, since 2000 (more than a decade before WeChat was launched), he’s been creating apps that will reimagine the digital payments industry. I’ve dreamed of His dream rapidly realized.
Some experts believe that if Musk moves fast, regulators may not be ready to catch up. Musk predicts Twitter will go from a struggling platform that recently escaped bankruptcy to an explosively popular “extremely valuable” product if it can successfully race ahead of regulators. doing. So while his Twitter purchase seemed impulsive to many, Musk says he’s been calculating his next move for a long time.
“There is a product plan that I wrote in July 2000. I thought it was possible to create the most valuable financial institution in the world,” Musk said at a conference in November. “That’s one of the reasons he thinks Twitter will end up being so valuable because he’s 22 years old and he’s going to make some improvements to X.com’s game plan and execute on it. ”
The question for anyone contemplating the future of Twitter remains: can he do it?
Musk and Twitter did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Ars. But it’s safe to say that Musk seems committed to his ideas. In November, he filed paperwork and began preparing his Twitter staff to implement his most radical ideas. First, Twitter registered Twitter Payments LLC with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. This is a necessary step for Twitter to start sending money between users in all states and US territories. A week later, Musk confirmed at a Twitter staff meeting that plans to turn Twitter into a digital payments platform were “definitely coming to fruition.”
“This is definitely the direction we want to go, allowing people who use Twitter to send money instantly, in real time, anywhere in the world,” Musk told Twitter staff about building it. encouraged to share their ideas. Vision.
Musk said the plan is not only to link Twitter to users’ preferred financial institutions, but to make Twitter itself an online bank of sorts. This means that a Twitter user can link a debit card to the platform, issue checks from her Twitter account, and even take out loans from her Twitter account. Musk confirmed to staff that making Twitter a top financial institution is one of his top priorities.
Soon, the press and trade publications began speculating as to whether Musk’s plans could keep Twitter alive. , reported by The New York Times. However, American Banker points out that it will be difficult to persuade users to purchase the payment system.
Experts say there’s no guarantee someone will switch to Twitter as their default payment method, but some could. Daniela Hawkins told American Banker that if Musk can build a user-friendly interface and gain the trust of users increasingly concerned about the security and privacy risks associated with social media apps, it will be a win. may be the strategy of
