UPDATED 18:50 EDT / JANUARY 30 2023

APPS

Twitter seeks payment licenses as part of Musk’s ‘everything app’ push

Twitter Inc. is reportedly applying for regulatory licenses and is designing software to support payment services as part of owner and Chief Executive Elon Musk’s push for Twitter to become an “everything app.”

The Financial Times, referencing people familiar with the company’s plans, reported today that Twitter Director of Product Management Esther Crawford has assembled a team to map the architecture needed to facilitate payments on the platform. The team is also said to be devising a vault for storing and protecting user data that would be involved in a payment system.

On the regulatory side, the Times says, Twitter registered with the U.S. Treasury as a payments processor in November and is now applying for state licenses also required for a payments system. Twitter is said to be aiming for U.S. licensing to be completed within a year, with the company then seeking to gain international regulatory approval.

Musk (pictured) has not been shy in discussing his plans for both payments and turning Twitter into a so-called “everything app” in the past. Before acquiring Twitter in late October, Musk tweeted that buying Twitter is an “accelerant to creating X, the everything app.”

Laying out his vision for Twitter post-acquisition on Nov. 9, Musk also referenced Twitter becoming an everything app akin to China’s WeChat app. He explained that he believes Twitter should be a place of news consumption, entertainment and financial transactions.

Aiming to turn Twitter into WeChat is no simple task. Although Musk describes his vision as turning Twitter into an everything app, the better description for WeChat would be a super app. Along with instant messaging and social media, WeChat offers a plethora of services, payments only constituting one part of its broader offering.

WeChat users can use the app to make payments everywhere and for everything in mainland China, down to tipping street buskers. It’s one of the country’s two largest payment processors alongside Ant Group Co. Ltd.’s AliPay.

Along with payments, WeChat also offers video and voice calling, translation services, mini apps including games, support for e-commerce, such as booking holidays, customer relationship management, live streaming video, internet search and maps. In parts, Weibo is YouTube, Twitch, Skype, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce Inc., Agoda Company Pte. Ltd., PayPal Holdings Inc., Google LLC and Google Maps all rolled into one app, with Twitter-like microblogging at its core.

PayPal could be the obvious starting point for a Twitter payments service, but with Weibo offering point-of-sale transactions, Musk might also be looking to take on services such as Apple Pay. What Twitter’s payment service will look like is unclear. The Times reported that Musk wants the system to be fiat first and foremost, but it could also support cryptocurrency payments.

Photo: Dan G/Flickr

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