In the final sketch of the Elon Musk episode Saturday Night Live last year, Musk suggested creating a currency based on “whatever we say it’s based on.” Now the Dogefather has filed paperwork for Twitter to get into the payments business.
In a Q&A today with advertisers, he described users “link[ing] their online bank account to Twitter” and offering “extremely compelling money market account to get extremely high yield on your balance.” They’ll also offer a debit card and other services.
There’s been talk for several months of layering digital payments on top of Twitter, perhaps shopping, making it an every thing (“X”) app, modeled in some sense after China’s WeChat – hence talk of Twitter bringing back Vine.
Musk has said that “Twitter probably accelerates X by three to five years.” The X moniker is something that Musk has used extensively. SpaceX; Tesla model X (although coming out with models S, 3, X and Y in order spells SEXY); X Holdings I was a company created to acquire Twitter; he refers to his first child with Grimes as X (while Y is the nickname of their second child).
He’s hardly new to banking. He founded X.com which merged into what became Paypal, where he served as CEO until being ousted by Peter Thiel. He bought back the X.com domain from Paypal in 2017.
Thanks PayPal for allowing me to buy back https://t.co/bOUOejO16Y! No plans right now, but it has great sentimental value to me.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 11, 2017
There’s no question that Musk’s takeover of Twitter has been both rocky and controversial. He sort of acknowledges that, but he also has everyone talking about Twitter a lot more (including on Twitter). He needs to find a way to take a money-losing business and have it throw off a billion dollars a year to service the debt he took on acquiring the company, hence the focus both on immediate cost cuts and revenue-generation. And he’s taken it on with a sense of urgency I expect he sees as how he changes the company culture to be more in line with his own vision (matching Tesla and SpaceX), for better and worse depending on where you sit.
He also approaches Twitter primarily from the perspective of an addicted user at times, more than an owner or manager, and one who needs to stoke the flames.
Complaint hotline operator online! Please mention your complaints below.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 9, 2022
In his SNL monologue he offered “I reinvented electric cars and I’m senidng people to Mars in a rocket ship. Did you also think I was going to be a chill normal dude?”
In that same monologue Musk’s mother says she’s excited for her Mother’s Day gift – she just hopes it’s not Dogecoin. How will she feel about banking with TwitterX?
