08/31 update below. This post was originally published on August 30
Elon Musk, the TeslaTSLA billionaire who took Twitter private last year and rebranded it X as part of a plan to make it into an “everything app,” could be plotting a major “PayPal update,” according to a leak last week.
The bitcoin price has rocketed this year, helped by Wall Street readying a $15.5 trillion bazooka that’s fast approaching, while major cryptocurrencies, including ethereum, XRPXRP and dogecoin, have also bounced back.
Now, X has been granted a currency transmitter license by Rhode Island’s regulators, widely celebrated as a step toward the social network that Musk is hell-bent on trying to turn into a China “WeChat-style” all-singing, all-dancing super app being able to custody, transfer and exchange bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
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“The news of Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter), obtaining a license to facilitate U.S. crypto payments amplifies the ongoing transformation of the crypto landscape. Endorsements from prominent figures like Musk lend credibility to the sector and hold implications for international markets,” Caroline Bowler, the chief executive of Melbourne-based bitcoin and crypto exchange BTCBTC Markets, said in emailed comments.
“Could this mean that X will soon allow people to send and receive cryptocurrency over the platform,” Ed Krassenstein, a political activist and influencer, asked via X alongside many other X users who gushed over the news and predicted a crypto price boom as a result.
However, the license is merely another state money transmitter license X has received after Michigan, Missouri and New Hampshire, which were approved on July 5. The Rhode Island license means X now has seven state money transmitter licenses in the country.
08/31 update: Musk has responded on X to a dogecoin fan account who quoted an X developer who denied the platform is “looking to launch X coins for creators.”
“Coins will likely not be something we‘re doing,” the developer said. “We’re focused more on making real money work if we can rather then some substitute currency.”
Musk called the quote, “correct,” and was subsequently flooded with replies asking whether “doge counts as real money?” The price of dogecoin jumped following the interaction, adding to gains of 5% over the seven days. For comparison the bitcoin price has climbed just 3% since this time last week.
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Last week, a leak suggested Musk could turn X (Twitter) into an “updated version of PayPalPYPL, with Musk holding “conversations [with] top Wall Street executives on [the] future of X,” Fox Business Network correspondent Charles Gasparino, posted to X.
Musk has been scrambling to find fresh revenue streams for X. Last month, media reports denied by Musk suggested X could add a trading platform built inside the app.
In July, Musk briefly added the dogecoin Ð symbol to his X account amid a flurry of interactions with dogecoin fan accounts—with bitcoin and crypto market watchers predicting Musk’s plans for X could be an “absolute game-changer.”
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