The billionaire detailed his super app project during a meeting with the company’s employees. His idea ? Create “the people’s financial institution”. Quite simply.
Elon Musk takes a first step towards his super app project, inspired by the Chinese application WeChat. The Twitter boss said he wanted to turn the social network into a bank during a meeting during which he answered questions from employees. Believing “that there is an opportunity for transformation in payments” – depending on the medium The Vergewho obtained a recording of the meeting – the entrepreneur wants “enable Twitter users to be able to send money anywhere in the world instantly and in real time”.
The latter could use this bank to send “tips”, or “tips”, to their favorite content creators, with the “Donations” feature launched last year, or to pay to access certain videos, an option considered by the billionaire.
A simple payment system coming soon
In detail, Elon Musk imagines a system that would be simpler and less expensive than that of traditional banks with credit cards, savings accounts or checks. Each certified user would have a balance “which can simply become positive or negative”with Twitter reportedly offering a better interest rate for accounts with a positive balance and charging less interest otherwise.
According to Elon Musk, it will be possible to link a debit card to his account or issue a check to use his balance outside of Twitter, especially in places where the social network’s payment system is not accepted. This would, for example, allow users to pay their rent from their account. It is also possible that this bank offers them loans. Asked by an employee about this possibility, Elon Musk replied: “Well, if you want to provide a full service to people, then you can’t miss key elements”. The idea for the entrepreneur is to make Twitter “the people’s financial institution”.
The billionaire has already started the process to set up this payment system on the social network. According to the Platformer newsletter, the company is seeking a money transfer license in Washington. the New York Times also revealed that the company filed for registration with FinCEN, the US agency specializing in tracking financial crimes, last week. Any company carrying out money transfers or changing currencies is required to register with it.