From 27 July X Money is rolling out to select users in the US: an in-app wallet, free transfers between people, a Visa card with cashback and up to 6% annual interest. Another step toward the 'everything app.' The question is worth asking now - do you want your bank to live where you message people.
- X Money launched on 27 July for select adult users in the US; media report it covers Premium and Premium+ subscribers.
- Inside: fee-free transfers between users, the X Card (Visa) with 3% cashback, up to 6% annual interest, paycheck up to 2 days early.
- X Payments is not a bank: the money sits at Cross River Bank, with federal deposit insurance spread across several banks up to $10 million.
For years Musk has repeated the same thing - X will become the 'everything app,' on the model of China's WeChat. Until now it was just words and the odd pilot attempt. As of this week, real money is entering X in the US.
The trick is in the comparison they hand you themselves: 6% interest against an average 0.38% for a US savings account. Nobody pays fifteen times the market rate out of generosity. This is an acquisition cost - to get your money into X and keep it there until the habit sets in. Promotional interest rates have a history: they start generous and melt away right when the habit is already in place.
Outside the US the service isn't there yet, and by their own account expansion is still ahead. In Europe, licenses and regulations stand between X Money and us - exactly the brakes we end up grateful for. We're watching something rare from a distance: a social network turning into financial infrastructure in real time. The convenience is real. So is the concentration - identity, public speech and money in one app means the app's problems become your problems too. If you go in, go in with your eyes open for the fine print.