Elon Musk hints of creating a payment system that would rival PayPal

On Tuesday, Elon Musk dropped hints that a Twitter payment processing system is in progress. He is referring to a system that would rival PayPal, one of the companies that he co-founded. 

Musk commented on a tweet agreeing that he would recreate the payment system again. DogeDesigner tweeted, “The man who reinvented the payment system back in 1999 is all set to do it again.” Musk responded with, “It’s gonna be great.”

It’s gonna be great

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 13, 2022

Elon Musk’s experience in payments dates back to his founding of X.com. It is an early iteration of the digital payment systems we are familiar with today. With Twitter offering such a venture, it isn’t a shock that he would be eager to take advantage of this potential opportunity.

As someone who was ahead of the curve with his original ideas for digital payments, Musk could revolutionize how people process transactions.

According to TechCrunch, the Twitter CEO discussed his vision for Twitter to infiltrate the payments market. Musk detailed his plans during a live stream meeting with the Twitter advisers on Wednesday. He proposes that Twitter users can send money to others on the platform soon. 

In addition, the Tesla CEO also aims for users to be able to obtain their funds from authenticated bank accounts. Then later, they can get offers of high-yield money market accounts that would soon encourage them to transfer their cash to Twitter. 

BREAKING REPORT: Rumors now swirling that Elon Musk is working on a TWITTER PAYMENT PROCESSING SYSTEM set to compete with PayPal…

Would you DUMP PAYPAL if a 'TWITTER PAY' format became available?

— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) December 13, 2022

The New York Times also confirmed that Twitter had filed for registration last week, enabling the platform to process payments. In addition, the report stated that Twitter filed under the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The filing requires a business to register before processing money transfers and exchanging cash checks or currency.

Elon Musk PayPal Interview

In the meeting, Musk also explained how the remake of the Twitter Blue paid subscription became the foundation of the payment system on the platform. He noted that Twitter needs to create basic technology structure changes to support video better. Recently reports also said that the platform is working on a “Paywalled Video” feature.

This feature will enable creators to charge in exchange for access to their content. It is a progress that suggests Twitter might be transferring into a space where it could directly compete with popular social media video providers such as Instagram Reels and TikTok. 

BREAKING REPORT: Rumors now swirling that Elon Musk is working on a TWITTER PAYMENT PROCESSING SYSTEM set to compete with PayPal…

Would you DUMP PAYPAL if a 'TWITTER PAY' format became available?

— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) December 13, 2022

The Washington Post reported samples of this concept in the works. Content creators can choose from prices like $1, $5, and $10 once they roll out the paywalled videos. In return, the creators can have a cash balance on their account while earning from their content.

He noted that, for the system to scale effectively, Twitter could prompt users to move their money within the ecosystem. Furthermore, if successful, users could eventually see a small donation added to their accounts to get started quickly. This type of innovation from Musk is one of the many reasons why tech enthusiasts around the globe look forward to his next enterprise.

Musk explained, “Now we can say, okay, you’ve got a balance on your account. Do you want to send money to someone else within Twitter? And maybe we pre-populate their account…and say, okay, we’re gonna give you 10 bucks. And you can send it anywhere within Twitter.” He added that users could then move their cash out of Twitter by placing it in an authenticated bank account.

Elon Musk

Merged https://t.co/fHmyFfl0Mr with PayPal in 2001 (exited $180m from the deal)

• Founded Tesla ($545B) and SpaceX ($127B)
• Recently acquired Twitter for ~$44B
• Building The Boring Company (~$5.7B) and Neuralink ($500M)

Net worth: ~$190B

— MATT GRAY (@matt_gray_) December 10, 2022

PayPal Biggest Competitors

This could potentially create competition for tech companies like Apple and the various fintechs as well as PayPal and Venmo. All of these have been encouraging their users to retain cash balances in their own ecosystems. Musk plans to propose high-interest rate that would attract users on Twitter. 

They are the first ones who might take advantage of this new financial service. It is still uncertain when this will become a reality. Moreso, it is also unknown what potential impact it might have on current payment providers.

Musk also said, “the next step would be this offer for an extremely compelling money market account where you get an extremely high yield on your balance. He believed people would move cash to Twitter if such a system existed. And then add debit cards, checks, and whatnot, and…just basically make the system as useful as possible. And the more useful and entertaining it is, the more people will use it,”

With the integration of payments into its platform, it appears that Elon Musk is taking the initial steps in his larger plan to make Twitter an “everything app” or “super app” dubbed “X.” This all-encompassing app would bring together payments, social networking, and entertainment into one centralized experience. It is very similar in design to WeChat in China. 

While this concept may still be undefined at present, the mission set forward by Musk suggests a potentially paradigm-shifting merger between tech, commerce, and media.