Elon Musk’s social media platform has announced a new partnership with the global payment service, Visa. The collaboration is designed to support the launch of a digital wallet, as well as a P2P payment service, which is set to launch later this year.
A Market Shift to Instant Digital Payments
This partnership makes perfect sense, especially when you look at how much of an impact digital currencies have had on the online world. Many websites, for example, now allow you to earn loyalty points, which can be converted instantly to store credit.
In-game currency is also very popular, and allows you to buy digital assets within seconds. A lot of the time, in-game currency can be bought with real money, with the concept being based on a digital wallet. Even Paddy Power casino games utilize something similar, as you can get free spins on online slots in the form of a bonus. Funds can also be deposited into an online wallet and then used to play a range of titles, whether it’s live online roulette or slot games. When money is deposited, deposit bonuses can also be claimed instantly, where they are then applied to your unique user wallet.
When you break all of this down, it’s clear that digital currency doesn’t exist physically, yet it does carry a lot of value. Online, there are a lot of individual ecosystems that allow loyalty points, in-game chips, or digital currency to be used instantly, but at the same time, each platform operates within its own confines.
Elon Musk is hoping to change this by creating an “everything app”. This would allow instant funding to X Wallets, along with payments to debit cards, bank accounts, credit cards, and more. The aim is to essentially connect all of the micro-ecosystems that currently exist, expanding financial services while providing people with a single hub where everything can be managed. The move is very bold, but the partnership with Visa is a big deal.
Visa is Allowing Real-Time Fund Transfers
In a major step forward, Visa Direct is enabling real-time fund transfers for people who are registered as Money account users. Although this is localized to the US only right now, the collaboration does show how quickly the digital money space is advancing. Musk has outlined his plan, saying that if money is involved, he wants it to be connected to the platform. He plans to eliminate the use of bank accounts as well, by providing one single hub where everything to do with money is managed, digitally and instantly.
Even though Musk has high hopes and aspirations for his project, he has also been telling his staff that the growth of X is currently unimpressive and that the company is breaking even and not making a solid profit. With that said, the launch of X Money is set to be a huge step forward, with the hopes that one day, it’s going to be a central hub that eliminates the need for banks and separate digital wallets, as everything will run from a single user app.
