Musk’s Twitter Likely to Process Crypto and Online Payments, Filings with US Treasury Hints: Report

Twitter, now under its new chief Elon Musk, could soon expand its services beyond just a social networking platform. The micro-blogging platform has reportedly filed papers to bag approvals to function as a payment processor for not just online, but also for crypto transactions. It does not quite come as a surprise, that Musk is showing an inclination towards activating crypto-related services on Twitter after having acquired it for about $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,58,912 crore).

Twitter reportedly filed the paperwork seeking permissions to operate as a financial service provider with the US Treasury last week. As per The Information, Twitter is intending to facilitate money transfers as well as exchange currencies into crypto assets and vice versa.

For now, elaborate details on Musk’s payment service plans remain unclear.

Musk, under his leadership, aims to find new ways to churn revenue for Twitter, that up till now was largely dependent on the advertisement model.

Controversially so, Musk soon after his Twitter takeover announced that he’d roll out the blue tick verification badge for only those people who would be willing to pay a monthly fee of $8 (roughly Rs. 650) to keep that badge.

Previously, Musk had dabbled in the idea of making Twitter Blue also a paid service. Back in April, Musk had said that Dogecoin could be used as a fee to use Twitter Blue services that offer subscribers to get rid of advertisements on their timelines, edit tweets within a 20-second time frame, and undo a tweet altogether among other premium features.

The chief of Tesla and SpaceX intends to make Twitter an ‘everything app’ that combines communication and financial provisions within one app.

Meta, in this arena, is way ahead of Twitter. The company already offers instant messaging services with money transfer option on WhatsApp, that already also offers video and voice call facilities — among other features that Twitter lacks.