Elon Musk’s X likely to get money transmitter licenses in New York and California soon

The billionaire was speaking at the Morgan Stanley technology, media, and telecom conference, where he also confirmed that the company might obtain its California license within the next month. For the New York license, he said the process “could take a few months”.

Musk also acknowledged the significance of obtaining approvals in populous states such as New York and California, due to their relatively lengthy approval processes. Notably, other states, including Pennsylvania and Utah, have already granted money transmitter licenses to X.

Also Read | Elon Musk teases X’s new financial feature, says, ‘You won’t need a bank…’

Ambitious Plans Since Twitter Acquisition

Once the licenses are approved, it would take X a step closer to being an “everything app” similar to China’s WeChat (Tencent-owned), as envisioned by Musk when he took over the site in 2022.

Musk envisions expanding X’s features beyond social media, incorporating functions like sending money to fellow users on the platform. Experts told Reuters that for X to offer services across the country, it will need a money transmitter license in each of the United States’ 50 states.

Also Read | Former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, 3 other employees are suing Elon Musk for $128 million. Here’s why

Potential Change: Likes and Reposts Visibility

During the conference, Musk, who also oversees Tesla and SpaceX, mentioned that X is contemplating removing the visibility of likes and reposts on each post. He cited concerns about visual clutter on the platform, suggesting a potential shift in the user experience.

On February 29, Musk announced a new feature on X, where the site’s recommendation algorithm will ensure that all of a user’s followers see their pinned post every 48 hours. As a failsafe to deter “gaming of the system”, Musk also said that this will only apply to one pinned post every two days.

As part of his “everything app” plans, Musk on February 28 also reshared a post by X Hiring which stated that over a million job postings have been posted across various industries on the social media site — hailing it as a jobs app.

Also Read | Elon Musk’s X will allow advertisers to run ads next to select content creator’s profile. Details here

A post by X Business reads, “There are more than 1 million job postings live on X right now! Companies across AI, financial services, SaaS, and more are finding qualified candidates using X Hiring every day.”

Since its inception in August 2023, X Hiring has been part of a broader strategy to diversify the X offerings. Initially launched for business profiles within its Verification for Organizations package, X Hiring has reported rapid growth.

In January’s first week, the microblogging platform announced the arability of 750,000 positions advertised in the app, with the additional 250,000 coming within a matter of weeks.

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Published: 07 Mar 2024, 09:18 AM IST