New state license brings Elon Musk's X one step closer to adopting crypto payments

By: Dickson Arinze

August 30, 2023 6:57 AM

The state of Rhode Island has granted X a license to act as a money transmitter.

Twitter's (X) entry into the financial services industry has been given a boost by the granting of a currency transmitter license by Rhode Island authorities. 

A money transmitter's license is necessary by law for any business that handles customer funds, whether those funds are fiat currency or cryptocurrency. With this green light, X can now store, trade, and transfer digital currencies.  

According→ to the NMLS, X was granted a Currency Transmitter License in Rhode Island on August 28.

X holds seven active permits to transport money 
and foreign currency.Origin: NMLS

This is a big win for Elon Musk, who wants X to become a "everything app" that can process both cryptocurrency and traditional currency transactions.

According to reports, Musk has asked X developers to design the platform's payments system so that crypto functionality can be added in the future, even though it has been speculated that the impending payments feature will initially solely offer support for fiat currencies. 

X had already been granted money transmitter licenses on July 5 in the states of Michigan, Missouri, and New Hampshire; this permission comes nearly two months later. With this recent acquisition, X now has transmitter licenses in seven different U.S. states.

If and when X introduces payment options, it is still unknown what kinds of financial services will be made available.

Those in the know at X say they expect it to provide fiat currency transaction services like PayPal (which Musk co-founded) at first, with crypto inclusion possible down the road.