Imagine you’re an X user who’s actually excited to make the app your primary payments app after X Money finally launched Monday for US Premium and Premium+ subscribers after years of delays.
You transfer funds and set things up so that your paychecks automatically deposit to X, where you expect to receive cashback rewards and a high annual yield of 6 percent on your funds—a rate that’s genuinely competitive with some banks.
But once you’ve put your money in the app, you realize that X Money has a lot of limitations. Most glaringly, you can currently only send peer-to-peer payments to other X users who have access to X Money and are 18 and older.
And most problematically, if you add the X Card to a wallet like Google Pay or Apple Pay, you can’t use it to make purchases everywhere nationwide. X does not have money transmitter licenses in “two of the largest financial markets in the country,” Tech Times noted in a very thorough analysis of X Money’s features and potential drawbacks. Neither New York nor Massachusetts will accept X Money payments, and experts previously told Ars that New York’s exclusion alone would seem to be a barrier to X becoming a significant disruptor in the payments market.
Daniela Hawkins, a global payments expert for tech consultancy Capco, told Ars in 2024 that any inconsistency in how payments function could stall widespread adoption of X Money. (Elon Musk was initially trying to launch the app by the end of that year.)
If users can’t easily tell when a payment will be accepted, that uncertainty will likely create enough friction to make Musk’s payments launch “bumpy,” Hawkins suggested.
“They’re gonna be like, ‘Wait, I don’t know where this Etsy shop is located—I don’t care,” Hawkins said, noting, “that’s just a bad user experience.”
Any issue impacting adoption could hurt X Money’s long-term success, and these aren’t the only speedbumps users may hit, an Ars review of X Money FAQs and web materials suggests.
Users also may reject the product if they worry they may abruptly lose access to X Money. That can happen if the X platform itself goes down or if activity on a user’s X or X Money account triggers restrictions.
If the former occurs, X doesn’t really offer solutions, only suggesting that users try basic fixes, like restarting or updating, switching to another device, or toggling between Wi-Fi or cellular data. And if the latter occurs, X can freeze withdrawals for up to 180 days, one X policy said.
For Musk, it seems that X Money has launched short of his online banking dreams, while for users, buying into the imperfect product may be a gamble—especially if X doesn’t expand support for it.
Since acquiring the platform formerly known as Twitter in 2022, Musk notably made drastic cuts to its support teams in favor of automated bots. Although X does advertise a customer support line (1-888-606-9669), its FAQ emphasized that in-app chat is “the easiest way” to get support for X Money problems, including for users who are locked out.
If too many users experience complex payment issues, X’s limited support teams could struggle to keep up, leading to declining engagement. Most banks maintain large dispute-resolution teams to handle call volumes and ensure that customers aren’t cut off from their money.
All the way you can lose access to X Money
Musk views X Money as a cornerstone of his big dream to turn X into an “everything app,” where users can access social media, shop, and bank in one place, essentially living their online lives on X. That “everything app” makeover is supposed to happen within “three to five years,” Musk estimated in 2023.
To achieve that vision on such an aggressive timeline, Musk is relying on the existing Twitter userbase that he acquired in 2022 to drive rapid adoption of new features like X Money. But Eric Grover, a principal at Intrepid Ventures with expertise in global payment networks, previously told Ars that Apple, Google, and Facebook have all failed to launch payment products that attract a majority of users.
So X Money could end up with similarly low adoption, even if its rollout was seamless.
X Money promises that it has been designed to “make managing your money simple and rewarding,” with 24/7 help available from chat assistants and live agents. But the same FAQ admits that users can be locked out if X detects “unusual activity,” suspects fraud, or thinks a user violated the terms of service.
If that happens, users could find themselves stuck in X support limbo, and many users already complain that it’s difficult to get the company to investigate terms-of-service violations or reverse mistaken account suspensions.
X appears to be trying to limit any uptick in support tickets by restricting X Money account locks to only the most serious infractions. According to the company, suspensions for violations involving child safety or violent and hateful entities will also block access to X Money. Other suspensions will not.
Uncertainty could keep users away. If an X Money account is suspended before a user can withdraw funds, X will leave them in limbo before eventually notifying them of options to reclaim funds. And in certain cases, the wait could be lengthy, as X may hold onto funds “temporarily to comply with legal or regulatory obligations,” the FAQ said.
Users may also be put in a difficult position if someone gains access to their X account and makes unauthorized payments. X’s FAQ says that users must quickly report unauthorized transactions or lose the funds. “Your liability for unauthorized electronic fund transfers may depend on how quickly you report the issue after discovering it,” the company said.
That means that even when making debit purchases with Visa’s backing, X can’t guarantee that users will be refunded for all fraudulent charges.
“Debit card purchases are also protected by Visa’s Zero Liability Policy, which means you won’t be held responsible for unauthorized card transactions when reported promptly,” X’s FAQ said, without specifying what “promptly” means.
X blocks disclosures in New York
Musk has been hyping X Money for years, claiming it would let users put their entire financial lives on X.
“I’m talking about, like, you won’t need a bank account,” Musk said in 2024, when first describing his vision to staff. He claimed it would “blow my mind” if X Money wasn’t launched quickly in 2024, but banking industry experts said it would take much longer, even if Musk secured all the approvals he needed.
But X Money’s own documentation makes clear that the product is not a bank. Instead, it serves as an intermediary with no banking regulatory obligations of its own. And as experts predicted, other regulatory hurdles appear to have delayed the launch.
The earliest hurdle that Musk couldn’t clear arose in New York. In late 2024, X weirdly ended up withdrawing its application for a money transmitter license in the state.
X appeared to back down after a law firm warned state banking regulators that the company was “unfit” to process payments and should instead be probed over its alleged “troubling and deep ties” to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Ever since, Ars has been requesting information on X’s withdrawal in New York, including requests to review regulators’ discussions of the application. But New York public records officials confirmed to Ars in May that no information would be shared, partly because X fought the disclosures.
Initially, X “requested that the application be excepted from public disclosure” on the basis that it contained “trade secrets,” a letter denying Ars’ request said.
But the state found no trade secrets and instead granted X’s request, citing the risk of an “unlevel playing field” if rivals saw the “blueprint” for X Money.
Additionally, officials said that their internal discussions could not be shared, as they are marked confidential to encourage “candor” and “open communication” among officials when approving sensitive applications.
It’s unclear whether X plans to resubmit applications in New York or Massachusetts, where the launch of X Money has long been criticized by that state’s senator, Elizabeth Warren.
In April, Warren warned Musk in a letter that X could not be trusted to handle responsibilities like dispute resolution and fraud remediation, citing the company’s record of failing to prevent abuses on its platforms, including allowing sanctioned actors to buy verified accounts and missing other forms of verified-user fraud.
“If your track record operating X is any indication of how you’ll operate X Money, consumers, our national security, and the stability of the financial system may be at risk,” Warren wrote.
Warren also raised concerns about X’s banking partner, Cross River Bank, pointing to prior enforcement actions over deceptive loan practices involving the bank’s fintech partners. As Tech Times noted, the integrity of X Money depends on both Cross River and X protecting X users.
X did not respond to Ars’ request to comment.
