Twitter stepping up its payment game: Now licensed money transmitter in 3 states
Twitter has gained approval in Michigan, Missouri, and New Hampshire, marking the next step in Elon Musk's attempts to turn the platform into an "everything app."
Twitter has obtained money transmitter licenses in three U.S. states, according to records in the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System database.
Those records indicate that Twitter’s applications were approved in Michigan, Missouri, and New Hampshire between June 29 and July 3, 2023.
The company’s Michigan and New Hampshire licenses are called “Money Transmitter Licenses.” Incidentally, Twitter’s Missouri license is called a “Sale of Checks and Money Transmitter License.” However, this difference appears to be due to the way in which states name licenses rather than any difference in planned services.
Twitter’s new money transmitter licenses would allow it to handle customer transactions, likely in a manner similar to PayPal and other non-bank services.
Twitter has been working on payments for months
Twitter has been in the process of obtaining licenses for some time now. In November 2022, it applied for money service business (MSB) licenses with FinCEN, revealing in the process that it aims to operate in all U.S. states and additional territories.
On January 30, 2023, The Financial Times reported that Twitter CTO and executive chair Elon Musk had created a team to explore digital payments. More broadly, Musk has expressed a desire to turn Twitter into an “everything app.” In April, he rebranded the social network’s company, Twitter Inc., as X Corp. to that end.
Though there is no indication that Twitter plans to introduce crypto-related services as part of its payment plans, the site has supported crypto tipping since at least February 2022. It includes other crypto features such as NFT profile pictures.
Twitter has not yet publicly announced any payment service, despite the various developments that have taken place to date.
Meanwhile, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey heads Block Inc., which offers the Square payment app and supports standard fiat payments as well as crypto.