Elon Musk wants to turn X into a banking super app, focusing on pay-by-bank initiatives
Pay-by-bank, a trend that is thriving globally, may find its breakthrough in the US, courtesy of Elon Musk’s strategic moves with X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
While the pay-by-bank channel is projected to grow in 2024, Musk’s disruptive ambitions for X could play a key role in bringing this trend to US shores.
Elon Musk’s latest venture involves turning X into a banking and payments super app with a focus on pay-by-bank initiatives. The “Not a Bot” project, launched in the Philippines and New Zealand, appears to be more than just an effort to combat bots and spammers on the platform. Payments consultant Richard Crone emphasized the hidden potential, saying, “They’re not charging dollars to generate revenue. They want to preauthenticate and validate the user.”
The $1 fee, while seemingly minor, serves a more profound purpose. By collecting user verification and bank payment account information, X increases user value for advertisers and itself, setting the stage for social commerce within the app. The move positions X as a potential financial super app, paving the way for services like pay-by-bank.
Krone highlights the strategic choice of the Philippines as a test market due to its importance in international remittances, making it an ideal base for X to challenge existing payment providers.
The goal is not just subscription payments, but to establish a foundation for payments-by-banking, potentially reshaping the landscape of financial services.
From Kron’s perspective, this seemingly innocuous move could have far-reaching consequences, envisioning a future where banks and credit unions will leverage X’s platform to market payments as a catalyst for broader financial innovation. -Will start from bank to bank.
