Elon Musk’s X secures money-transmitter license in Utah

Musk building X: Elon Musk's X (previously known as Twitter), secured a money-transmitter license from Utah, becoming the 15th US state to grant approval as the company explores incorporating payment features.

Utah granted approval on Friday, as reported by the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System & Registry, an online database. This license positions X, formerly Twitter, to operate similarly to PayPal's (PYPL.O) Venmo, enabling money transfers and paving the way for users to send funds to one another.

Venturing into the world of payments could serve as a strategic move for X, allowing it to diversify its business beyond digital advertising, which faced challenges after Musk assumed ownership. Following Musk's agreement with an X user promoting an antisemitic conspiracy theory, some major advertisers paused their spending or left the platform. Musk's profane comment about brands suspending ads on X during a New York Times DealBook event exacerbated the situation.

Since Musk's acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, he has expressed a vision of transforming the platform into an "everything app," akin to the popular Chinese app WeChat. WeChat not only facilitates messaging but also enables users to hail a taxi and make payments to merchants.

This marks X's fifteenth state to acquire a money-transmitter license, following approvals from New Hampshire in June of the previous year, as well as Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, and Michigan.

(With Reuters inputs)