X adds state money licenses in pursuit of payments

Maryland and Georgia this month became the latest states to grant X, formerly known as Twitter, money transmitter licenses.

Maryland granted a license to X’s subsidiary Twitter Payments last Wednesday, and Georgia granted it a license earlier this month. The Maryland license was listed in the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS).

The latest licenses are in addition to those acquired by X previously in New Hampshire, Missouri, Michigan and Arizona.

The social media company now has money transmitter licenses in a total of six states, inching X closer to its goal of processing payments nationwide. Twitter changed its name to X late last month.

The San Francisco-based social media platform, which was purchased by Elon Musk last October, is seeking money transmitter licenses in every U.S. state and territory to allow users to send and receive money nationwide through its app.

X’s payments app ambitions

May 2022

The New York Times reports that Elon Musk is pitching investors on a goal of creating a payments business that will generate $1.3 billion in revenue over six years.
October 2022

Musk acquires X predecessor Twitter, ending a months-long courtship.
November 2022

The Financial Times reports that Twitter has filed paperwork with the U.S. Treasury Department with the goal of becoming a payments processor.
June 2023

New Hampshire becomes the first state to grant a money transmitter license to X subsidiary Twitter Payments LLC.
July 2023

Michigan and Missouri both grant money transmitter licenses to X.
July 2023

Arizona becomes the fourth state to grant X a license.
August 2023

Georgia becomes state number five to grant X a license.
August 2023

Maryland grants X a money transmitter license, bringing the total number of states to six.

Even if X does obtain all of the licenses it needs and successfully launches a payments app, it will face stiff competition from existing players such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal-owned peer-to-peer app Venmo.

X will also have to contend with a changing marketplace. There has been increasing experimentation in digital payments this year with e-commerce giant Amazon bringing its biometric payment system to Whole Foods grocery stores and coffee chain Starbucks experimenting with a “scanless checkout” option for drive-thru customers.