X appears to be making progress on implementing its own payment system. According to a recent finding by app researcher Nima Owji, the company is working on adding a “Payments” button to the navigation bar under the bookmarks tab, which also has features for transactions, balances and transfers.
This discovery indicates that the launch of a payment service on X could happen soon, possibly hitting its initial goal of mid-2024 as set by its owner, Elon Musk. When the billionaire acquired the platform in 2022, then known as Twitter, he envisioned transforming it into an “everything app” which offers users the ability to store money in their X accounts, send payments to other users, access high-yield money market accounts, and more.
BREAKING: X Payments is coming soon! pic.twitter.com/8JBIHjHOls
— Nima Owji (@nima_owji) August 5, 2024
Musk previously mentioned WeChat as a source of inspiration for X’s potential evolution. For the uninitiated, the platform plays a significant role in China, gradually growing from a private messenger to an app that now provides multiple services such as payments and gaming.
Whether the billionaire’s own social network could achieve similar success remains to be seen. For now, it is still uncertain whether X’s first-party payment system will be offered to all users or just its Premium subscribers. On that note, there’s no word if the company plans to have it available in other regions either.
With X facing challenges in monetising through advertising, introducing a payment service is looking to be a potential source of revenue. Just recently, the company has filed an antitrust lawsuit against advertising groups over an alleged boycott that resulted in significant financial losses for its platform.
(Source: TechCrunch)
