As Elon Musk sought new revenues to get the company back on track, Twitter began applying for legal licenses across the US and designing the software necessary to bring payments on the platform.
According to two people familiar with the company’s plans, Esther Crawford, Musk’s booming aide on Twitter, has started with a small team to map out the architecture needed to facilitate payments on the platform.
New moves to make payments on the site are a critical part of Musk’s plan to open new revenues. Twitter’s $5 billion a year ad revenue has been in crisis since Musk bought the platform for $44 billion in October, with marketers voicing management and moderation concerns.
According to Sources, Elon Musk is Designing the Twitter Payment System to Add Cryptocurrencies in the Future
Two sources said that Musk wanted the payment system primarily to be fiat, but it was built in such a way that the cryptocurrency payment function could potentially be added later.
In the initial presentation to investors in the acquisition deal in May, Musk said Twitter aims to generate approximately $1.3 billion in payment revenue by 2028.
Musk has previously said he wants Twitter to offer fintech services like peer-to-peer transactions, savings accounts and debit cards as part of its masterplan to launch an “everything app” that includes messaging, payments and commerce.
According to two people familiar with the team’s work, Crawford’s team is working on it, including designing a vault to store and protect user data that will be collected by the system.
Twitter is also advancing the legal checks required before launching a payment service. Twitter registered with the US Treasury as a payment processor in November, according to a legal filing. Sources said Twitter is now also starting to apply for some state licenses it will need to start the service.
One of the sources in question said that the remaining applications will be made shortly, with the hope that the US license will be completed within a year. They added that the company will then seek to expand to gain regulatory approvals internationally.
*Not investment advice.
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