- Musk: The market needs a blockchain-based social medium that offers payments
- PayPal and Western Union hold the same state licenses as X
Elon Musk’s X has been issued money transfer and payment processing licenses by a number of US states in the last few months, most recently by Rhode Island, CoinDesk wrote. The licenses entitle X to offer broad payment services, but Musk hinted at supporting crypto, even replacing the blue bird logo with Dogecoin's dog.
Musk puts “everything” app plan in motion
Musk has plans for X to go beyond being a social media platform, becoming an “everything app.” The money transfer licenses obtained from New Hampshire, Michigan, Arizona, Missouri, Maryland, and Georgia this year show he might want to support nationwide payment processing, not unlike PayPal or Venmo.
The license issued in Rhode Island is a prerequisite to offer crypto services. It’s also essential for permitting payments. Before making his offer to buy what was then Twitter, Musk said the market needed a blockchain-based social media company that offered payments.
According to Rhode Island's Department of Business Regulation’s FAQ section, companies that require approval include those transferring money for customers, including electronic transfers like PayPal and traditional wire transfers like Western Union.
License for crypto exchange also needed
Companies must apply for a currency transmission license in Rhode Island if they want to operate as a custodian or offer cryptocurrency exchange services. In very rare cases, fintechs are an exception where the company’s main profit-generating business does not involve money transfers and it has the status of a true 'agent' of the Rhode Island-licensed currency processor.
Differences between states
In New Hampshire, money transfer means issuing or selling payment instruments or stored value, or receiving monetary value or currency for transfer to another location. The state considers any entity that accepts and transfers a convertible virtual currency or sells or buys such for whatever reason a money transmitter under federal law.
PayPal and Western Union hold the same state licenses as X, as well as others according to the states they operate in and the services they offer.
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