X begins external beta of X Money payments service, offering 42 invites via a William Shatner charity auction backed by Elon Musk.
X has begun offering external invites to its payments service, X Money, marking the first public expansion beyond internal employee testing.
In an unconventional move, owner Elon Musk partnered with actor William Shatner to distribute 42 beta invites via an online charity auction.
$1,000 Donation for Early Access
Shatner promoted the X Money beta to his followers, offering invites in exchange for a $1,000 donation to his charity supporting children’s and veterans’ organisations.
According to screenshots shared on X, Musk sent Shatner $42 through the X Money app — a nod to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, in which 42 is famously described as the “answer to life, the universe, and everything.”
All 42 winning usernames have now been submitted to X for beta activation.
What X Money Offers
Screenshots posted during the rollout show an interface with three main tabs:
Users can:
- Deposit funds
- Send and request payments
- Set up direct deposit
- Earn up to 6.00% APY (as shown in one screenshot)
Deposits are held by Cross River Bank, Member FDIC, and insured up to $250,000 per individual. While X Money itself is not an FDIC-insured bank, it has secured money transmitter licenses in over 40 U.S. states.
The service also includes a metal debit card featuring a user’s X handle, issued in partnership with Visa, which supports the peer-to-peer payments functionality.
Part of the “Everything App” Vision
X Money is a key component of Musk’s ambition to transform X into an “everything app,” combining:
- Social networking
- Private messaging (via X Chat)
- Payments
- Creator tools and subscriptions
- Video services
The company recently confirmed that X Chat is being tested as a standalone app. X Money could potentially follow a similar path to compete more directly with services such as Venmo, PayPal, and Cash App.
Musk’s Longstanding Payments Ambition
Musk’s interest in digital payments dates back to 1999, when he founded X.com, an online financial services startup that later merged into what became PayPal.
After acquiring Twitter in October 2022, Musk rebranded the platform as X in 2023 — a reference to his earlier fintech venture.
During a February company all-hands meeting, Musk indicated that X Money would enter a limited external beta within a month or two before expanding globally.
With the first 42 users now onboarded through a celebrity-backed charity push, X’s payments ambitions are beginning to move from internal testing to real-world rollout — in characteristically unconventional fashion.
