Elon Musk’s X Money partnership with Visa is a gamechanger for payments on U.S. social platforms

Preston Fore

Elon Musk’s vision of turning <a href="https://fortune.com/company/twitter/" target="_blank">X</a> into an “<a href="https://fortune.com/crypto/2023/07/27/elon-musk-twitter-x-everything-app/">everything app</a>” is one step closer to reality with the announcement of a new payments platform.<div class="paywall-selector"></div><div class="paywall">



The company’s new X Money service is set to launch later in 2025, giving users a digital wallet on X to store money and make peer-to-peer transfers. Last week, <a href="https://fortune.com/company/visa/" target="_blank">Visa</a> announced that it would be X Money’s first partner. The partnership would let users connect their checking account and debit card and securely transfer funds to X.



There’s no shortage of competitors in the mobile payment app ecosystem: Zelle, Venmo, and CashApp have entrenched relationships with millions of active uses. But X Money represented the tightest pairing of social media and money seen in the U.S. market. It’s a common pairing in other global markets—<a href="https://fortune.com/2017/11/20/china-tencent-wechat-payments/">Tencent’s WeChat</a> represents something of a model for the service.



Visa sees the development as a step forward in making the digital economy more accessible, especially for creators—who <a href="https://usa.visa.com/about-visa/newsroom/press-releases.releaseId.20961.html#:~:text=Acknowledging%20the%20impact%20of%20creators,helping%20creators%20get%20paid%20fast." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the company views as small businesses</a>.



“If you think about the time in which [creators] get paid out, to then developing that next piece of content [and] hitting their next group of followers, it can be a huge hindrance to their success,” Jonathan Kolozsvary, global head of small business at Visa, tells Fortune.



Two out of three online marketplace sellers say waiting to receive payment affects their ability to grow their business, <a href="https://corporate.visa.com/content/dam/VCOM/corporate/visa-direct/documents/visa-direct-marketplaces-report.pdf">according to Visa research</a>. By partnering with Visa, X Money’s approach will allow consumers to have a seamless experience—with a one-stop shop for posting content and potentially being paid for it.



“Our goal is to meet them where they&#8217;re behaving, where they&#8217;re selling their product, where they&#8217;re positioning it so we can really maximize their probability of success when it comes to getting paid,” Kolozsvary adds.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Musk’s bigger vision for X Money—and how it could impact you</h2>



Building financial services into social media platforms has been going on for years. Meta launched <a href="https://fortune.com/2024/06/01/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-marketplace-ecommerce-amazon-gen-z/">Facebook Marketplace</a> almost ten years ago, allowing users to buy and sell their stuff. TikTok not only has its Shop but also allows creators to earn money from its Creator Rewards Program. And how many things did you buy on <a href="https://fortune.com/company/facebook/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> last month?



What’s new with X Money is building instant payments processing into the app itself. TikTok says payments when processed through PayPal are usually processed within 72 hours. For bank account transfers, payment can take up to 15 days to process.



With X’s venture into the digital wallet space, the company is laying the groundwork for much more. Musk has <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/10/27/twitter-x-control-your-entire-financial-life-2024/">previously expressed his hopes</a> that people’s entire financial life will one day be on his platform—going as far to say “you won’t need a bank account.”&nbsp;



A source with knowledge of the agreement confirms <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/28/elon-musk-x-visa-digital-wallet.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CNBC reporting</a> that X Money plans to allow creators to accept payments and store funds without external institutions.



X’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, <a href="https://x.com/lindayaX/status/1884254005188034772" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote on X</a> that this is the, “first of many big announcements about X Money this year.”



“It&#8217;s going to allow the 600 million or so active monthly users of X to fund their X Money accounts,” said Ryan McInerney, Visa’s CEO during the company’s first-quarter earnings call. “So, they move money into it: they&#8217;re going to be able to transfer funds back to their bank account instantly from their X Money account, there&#8217;s going to be creators on the X platform that can now get paid much faster when they use Visa Direct to move money back into their bank accounts.”



X Money LLC is now registered with money transmitter licenses in 40 states, plus the District of Columbia. The state has yet to partner with Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New York, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.



It is also registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).



More on personal finance:



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<li>The IRS <a href="https://fortune.com/article/what-is-irs-form-1099-k/">wants to know how much money you’re making online</a>. They even have a new tax form for it</li>



<li><a href="https://fortune.com/article/cpa-shortage-could-ruin-tax-season/">Your tax refund could be in danger</a> thanks to the ongoing shortage of accountants</li>



<li><a href="https://fortune.com/company/square/" target="_blank">Block</a> agrees to <a href="https://fortune.com/2025/01/16/jack-dorsey-block-cash-app-consumer-financial-protection-bureau/">pay up to $120 million in refunds to resolve Cash App fraud</a></li>
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Visa’s new partnership with X brings fast and secure money transfers to the social media platform.

How Visa’s partnership with Elon Musk’s X impacts you

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