ALBAWABA - On Monday, X CEO Elon Musk rolled out a banking services feature to all U.S. subscribers of its paid Premium and Premium+ tiers on the X platform, in a push to turn it into an ‘everything app’.
The move comes after a brief test period where the feature was given to a limited number of top tier subscribers.
The banking services offered include making deposits, sending peer-to-peer payments, paying bills, wire money transfers, and mail checks, all without leaving the app.
A New Jersey-based lender bank will hold the deposits, the same bank used by several fin-tech apps, the deposits will be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) up to $250,000.
Musk had done this all in an effort to make X resemble Chinese app WeChat; a single app for messaging, shopping and payments, is a pillar of consumer spending in China.
Furthermore, deposits are set to earn users an annual percentage yield of six percent, well above competitors’ four or five percent yields and exceptionally higher than traditional banks’ near-zero yields.
This new feature is set to make X compete with popular payment apps Venmo, Cash App, and SoFi, drawing on the app's user base of millions.
