Elon Musk's Vision for X Everything App Advances: Could Dogecoin Skyrocket With Payments Launch?
Owji shared that X added a Payments button to the navigation bar. Billionaire Elon Musk has been vocal about his plan to turn social media platform X into an everything app that includes payments since acquiring the company for $44 billion in 2022.
What Happened?
Formerly known as Twitter, the X social media platform currently gets the majority of its revenue from advertising and a portion from premium membership subscriptions.
Musk would like to add more features to X that include shopping features and payment features that could help diversify the platform and its revenue sources.
A tweet from app researcher Nima Owji has sparked speculation that the launch of X payments could be coming soon, as reported by TechCrunch.
Owji shared that X added a Payments button to the navigation bar. The researcher also found references to "transactions, balance, and transfer" while investigating the new payment features.
Part of Musk's plan has been for users to be able to send payments to other users via the app and also store money in their X accounts.
According to TechCrunch, X Payments was recently granted a license for North Dakota, bringing its total coverage to 33 states. A goal of having money transmitter licenses in all 50 states could remain a key objective ahead of the launch.
Additionally, X held an all-hands meeting with employees where the company announced a lawsuit was filed against several companies and the Global Alliance for Responsible Media over an alleged boycott of the platform.
During the all-hands meeting, CEO Linda Yaccarino shared with employees that key features like X payments and shopping on X, along with a "pivot to video," were developments to be excited about, as reported by The Verge.
Why It's Important
The launch of X payments could increase engagement on the platform and make the Musk-owned social media network closer to an everything app.
The launch of X payments or an official release date could also cause the price of Dogecoin (DOGE/USD) to get a boost. The Musk-loved cryptocurrency has often spiked related to talk of payments on the platform.
Although there is no guarantee that Dogecoin or other cryptocurrencies will be linked to X Payments, speculation suggests they could become a feature at launch or in the future.
Dogecoin often surged in response to Musk’s acquisition of the social media platform and received another boost when he temporarily changed the Twitter bluebird logo to the Dogecoin logo.
The potential near launch of X payments would align with what Musk told Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood during an interview back in December.
"I think we actually have a majority of the states," Musk said at the time.
Musk said that the company was waiting for final transmitter licenses and that launching payments without approval in New York and California was irrelevant. According to the TechCrunch report, the company has a license for California but not for New York.
Musk estimated at the time that X would get licenses and launch in the middle of 2024.
The launch of X payments could put the social media platform in competition with several online payments companies including PayPal Holdings (PYPL), which Musk was previously the CEO and largest shareholder.
