Elon Musk’s X launches X Money banking service for paid US subscribers

Elon Musk’s X on Monday began offering its X Money banking service to all US subscribers of its paid Premium and Premium+ tiers, widening access to a product that had been in limited testing since late June.

X Money lets users hold deposits, send peer-to-peer payments, pay bills, transfer money by wire and mail checks without leaving the X app.

Deposits are held at Cross River Bank, a New Jersey-based lender used by several financial-technology apps, and are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation up to $250,000.

A post by X Money said deposits would earn an annual percentage yield of up to six percent. Premium+ subscribers can earn the top rate directly, while Premium users must meet direct-deposit requirements, according to the company.

Musk has said he wants X to become an “everything app” resembling China’s WeChat, which combines messaging, shopping and payments.

Cross River described the launch as the first government-insured banking platform in the United States built on a social network.

The service puts X into competition with payment and financial apps including PayPal’s Venmo, Block’s Cash App and SoFi.

The product drew scrutiny before its launch. In an April 14 letter, Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, pressed Musk on how X Money would “generate revenue sufficient to pay that yield” and cited past FDIC enforcement actions against Cross River over lending practices.