X Payments on the Way? Elon Musk Reveals ‘$’ Button on an Account

• Elon Musk has sparked fresh excitement and speculation about X’s long-awaited in-app payment feature.
• X has currently claimed licenses in 38 states at the time of writing – but still needs to claim one in New York.
• Dogecoin’s price surged following the news.

The excitement surrounding the potential of an in-app payment feature on X has surged again after fresh confirmation from billionaire boss Elon Musk.

The crypto community on X has been on a rollercoaster ride over the past few years with the potential launch of the feature. Speculation reached new heights earlier this year but died down after information went quiet.

Elon Musk Confirms X Payments

On Friday, Nov. 26, Musk shared a screenshot of famed podcaster Joe Rogan’s X profile with a “$” symbol next to the profile picture.

When shared by a user speculating if the symbol meant that X Payments would be launched, Musk replied with a simple “yes.”

X Payments, which will allow users to send and receive money from each other, has been teased since Musk’s takeover of the social media platform.

In October 2023, Musk told an employee meeting  it “would blow my mind if we don’t have that rolled out by the end of next year.”

“…when I say payments, I actually mean someone’s entire financial life. If it involves money, it’ll be on our platform. Money or securities or whatever. So, it’s not just like ‘send $20 to my friend.’ I’m talking about, like, you won’t need a bank account.”

An in-app payment feature is part of Musk’s larger plan to turn X into an “everything app,” similar to the popular China-based Wechat application.

Crypto on X?

For X Payments to operate, the social media platform will need to bag money transmitter licenses in all 50 states.

X currently has claimed licenses in 38 states at the time of writing, including one in California, according to Ars Technica. 

However, Musk’s social media platform reportedly withdrew its New York license application in April after a local law firm, Walden Macht Haran & Williams (WMHW), sent an open letter  to banking commissioners claiming X was “unfit” to receive licenses.

WMHW also had previously filed a lawsuit against Twitter before Musk purchased it, alleging that it had “acted at the direction of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in furtherance of KSA’s long-running campaign of transnational repression.”

That letter alleged that user data leaked by Twitter’s employees “precipitated and enabled“ the murder of Washington Post correspondent Jamal Khashoggi and the “imprisonment of Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan, a human rights worker and anonymous Twitter user.”

However, WMHW reportedly voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit last month, potentially paving the way for Musk’s X to resubmit its application.

In December, Musk claimed during a live conversation on X that it would be “irrelevant” to launch the payment feature without claiming licenses in New York and California.

DOGE Surges

In light of the excitement surrounding in-app payments on X, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 2.3% in the 24 hours following Musk’s confirmation post, according to CoinGecko data. 

The billionaire’s favorite meme coin reached $0.48 at one point, marking its highest value in over a week.

DOGE’s price has increased by 227% over the last month and has gained 87% in the past week alone.