This is an idea that Elon Musk has had since acquiring Twitter and is about to come true. The social network could serve more than its current role as a short-message distributor, it could act as a one-stop service that could be used for many purposes… including a financial platform. Twitter can allow you to make payments, competing directly with PayPal for peer-to-peer and online payments, and Apple Pay for physical payments.
Edit MacGeneration, background photo by Dan Dennis.
It is the Financial Times that returns to this idea, put forward by Elon Musk himself in November during Twitter Space (an audio show hosted on the social network). According to the newspaper, Twitter had to file files to obtain licenses needed to launch the payment service in the US. Initially, the goal was to allow sending money to another user on Twitter, but the boss’s ambition was much greater. One could use a service to manage their savings and have a payment card that would allow them to pay in the real world, in addition to online.
Elon Musk is actually planning to make Twitter a “universal app” that will also serve as a messenger, payment platform, and even an online store. A model that strongly resembles what has existed in China for several years, as our special correspondent Mathieu explained to us in one of his digital chronicles from China.
Digital Chronicle of China: In the Kingdom of Alipay
Esther Crawford, current Director of Product Management at Twitter, will work to build the infrastructure for this new service. This payment platform will no doubt be reserved for the United States when it launches, but if Elon Musk’s ambitions are indeed as important as they say, we imagine it could then roll out to other regions of the world.
The Financial Times explains that the service will initially be limited to real money, but cryptocurrencies should be added in the future. Logically, the Twitter boss is a fan, even if he’s a second time aware of their environmental impact.
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