Musk, who had been outspoken about "copying WeChat", added payment tool attributes to the social platform step by step after acquiring Twitter, and took a bigger step.
After Twitter changed its name to X, it obtained a cryptocurrency payment license issued by the state of Rhode Island in the United States at the end of August. This means that this social platform can provide some users with cryptocurrency storage, payment and transaction services. Prior to this, X has obtained legal currency payment licenses in six states in the United States.
Adding payment gene on the basis of social platform, X is moving towards the route of "WeChat payment". Not only that, Musk also announced that X will have voice and video calling functions.
Now it seems that X's "copying WeChat" is really not a joke, but with Musk's business experience, imitation is not the end. His ambition to transform Twitter is to turn it into a super application, not only in terms of functions, but also in the scope of influence .
At present, X's 541 million monthly active users are not in the same order of magnitude as WeChat. The difference in the "mass base" is an important reason for the gap between the two parties, and the cryptocurrency that can be circulated on a global scale is regarded by Musk as a breakthrough.
X won the cryptocurrency payment license
X (predecessor to Twitter) is moving along Musk's vision of a "super app."
On the evening of August 29th, Beijing time, Twitter Payments LLC, a subsidiary of X Payment, obtained the currency transfer license "Currency Transmitter" in Rhode Island, USA.
Compared to the general currency sending license "Money Transmitter", Currency Transmitter was created to replace electronic money transmitters. Notably, the license allows the holder to trade virtual currencies, including cryptocurrencies, on behalf of others under authorization. This means that X can support users to store, transfer and exchange cryptocurrencies.
This social media giant, which has more than 541 million monthly active users, has actually been increasing the attributes of payment tools shortly after Musk took over. As early as January of this year, the British "Financial Times" reported that Twitter was working hard to introduce the payment function, and began to apply for regulatory licenses across the United States, while developing the software required to introduce the payment function.
According to the National Licensing System (NMLS), as of now, seven states in the United States have issued financial service-related licenses to X, except for Rhode Island, Arizona, Missouri, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan and New Hampshire Allow X to provide legal currency payment services.
Subsidiary X has obtained 7 payment licenses
Social platforms have become payment tools, and this routine is all too familiar to Chinese users. Some netizens bluntly said, "Isn't this WeChat?"
Indeed, before the acquisition of Twitter, Musk bluntly proposed in an internal meeting, "How about we copy WeChat?" He said that there is no national-level app like WeChat in the West, and people can use it for almost everything. matter. Then, the person next to him added, "Buy Twitter, copy WeChat". Musk smiled slightly: "Yes, that's almost what it means."
The resolute Musk really did it. After acquiring Twitter, he not only started to create financial service functions similar to "WeChat Pay", but also copied WeChat's "magic weapon" voice and video calls. On August 31, Musk posted that video and audio calls are coming to X, and Apple, Android devices, as well as Mac and PC can be used. "No phone number is needed, X is a global communication address book."
This is an operation so familiar to Chinese netizens. Back then, WeChat was born out of nowhere, and it single-handedly hit the three major communication operators. Up to now, most of the calls and videos between relatives and friends happen on WeChat. And most of the people who call you are couriers, delivery guys, and advertising salespeople.
When Twitter changed its name to X in July this year, Musk said that he would reshape Twitter into a super platform integrating communication and finance. "In this case, the name Twitter no longer makes sense, so we must say goodbye to this blue bird."
Twitter is an onomatopoeic word for chirping birds in English, and its social meaning is stronger. But X seems to be all-encompassing and can carry everything, including the ambition of Madman Musk.
Super WeChat also has multiple variables
Musk has pushed strongly for Twitter's transformation. But according to the personality of this madman, he was never willing to be a follower. After copying WeChat, the next step may be "Super WeChat".
Currently, WeChat has more than 1.3 billion monthly active users, while X has 541 million monthly active users. In addition to basic social functions, users can obtain almost all Internet services on WeChat, including payment, financial management, publishing and reading articles and videos, and shopping, buying tickets, and playing games on WeChat through a large number of third-party small programs.
Even if X's overseas foundation is deep enough, it will not be easy to catch up with China's long-term No. 1 national application. Even if it can add payment functions and quickly integrate various third-party applications, the gap in the number of users is still in sight.
According to the audience reach released by the Twitter self-service tool in January this year, the main user groups of X are in the United States and Japan. It has 95.4 million active users in the United States and 67.5 million active users in Japan, followed by India and Brazil. , Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Turkey and Mexico, the number of active users is 27.3 million, 24.3 million, 24 million, 23.2 million, 18.6 million and 17.2 million.
Although X covers many countries and regions around the world, except for the United States and Japan, the number of users in other countries is not prominent. WeChat is rooted in China with a population of 1.43 billion, and has continued to develop the Southeast Asian market in recent years. According to the conventional route, it is almost an impossible task for X to surpass WeChat in the number of users.
Unless, X can find a new carrier that can reach more users around the world, making it convenient enough and needed enough. In this regard, the newly acquired "encrypted payment license" may be an important variable.
Compared with traditional fiat currency payment and cross-border transfer services, cryptocurrencies circulating on open source blockchains are naturally borderless. Using blockchain technology, encrypted asset transactions do not need to be approved and verified by a central authority, making transactions and transfers faster and more efficient, and reducing friction costs in intermediate links.
In the financial transformation brought about by this technology, the only rule that needs to be established by the outside world is how to do a good job in anti-money laundering. After all, there are more and more cases of using cryptocurrencies to break the law or even commit crimes. Compliance has become the main pursuit of many cryptocurrency service providers who want to expand their business scope.
If X can become a compliant and global encrypted payment platform that can carry cross-border transfers, cross-border payments and other businesses, this will become a huge advantage over WeChat.
At present, although WeChat Pay has launched business in more than 60 countries and regions, supporting multi-national legal currencies including British pound, Hong Kong dollar, US dollar, Japanese yen, etc., it is still implemented based on traditional methods, especially in cross-border business, although the efficiency has been improved. , but the cost is far less than that of a cryptocurrency network.
For X, turning it into a payment tool is the direction of its "copying WeChat", but obtaining an encrypted payment license in Rhode Island, USA, is likely to become a breakthrough for its "Super WeChat". X also has a natural policy advantage, given the openness of U.S. regulation on crypto policy.
Of course, obtaining regulated encryption licenses on a larger scale around the world is also a long-term challenge for X to become a worldwide payment tool. According to the global cryptocurrency regulatory report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers at the beginning of the year, only 11 major countries and regions in the world support the legalization of cryptocurrency, including the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia, Japan, etc. Cryptocurrencies banned, including China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia.
In other words, if X wants to attract more users through encrypted payment, it depends largely on the face of global regulation.
At the same time, financial companies in the United States, including PayPal, Block, and Stripe, have already launched encrypted payment functions. These native financial companies will also be X’s external competitors, and of course, they may also become partners.
The transformation of X into a super application is another ambition of Musk. Imitation is only the first step, and how to expand is the ultimate point. Now, he's showing the cryptocurrency card...