Elon Musk’s X Moving Into Trading and Investments

X (formerly Twitter) CEO Linda Yaccarino has confirmed that financial services will be at the heart of the social media platform's developing business model. Addressing the Cannes Lions advertising festival, Yaccarino said users would be able to make financial transactions on X, including trades and investments, as part of Elon Musk's broader vision for X to be an "everything app."

Musk’s vision, perceived to be based on the Chinese platform WeChat, sees X as a platform that extends far beyond social media, to also encompass shopping, financial services, messaging, and more. 

In an interview with the Financial Times, Yaccarino stated that the vision encompasses daily transactions, such as peer-to-peer payments, tipping for content creators, and holding funds, as well as trading and retail purchases. A possible X-branded credit or debit card is also in the works.

The X Money launch will be in the U.S. first, with international markets to follow. Yaccarino stated that the platform is trying to create a full commercial and financial ecosystem.

Yet, this push into financial services can also create significant regulatory headaches, especially in areas such as licensing and anti-money laundering compliance. X also continues to struggle with volatility in its advertising revenue base. The platform experienced a mass exodus of advertisers after Musk's 2022 takeover, amid concerns over brand safety and content moderation.

Amidst accusations that X threatened to sue advertisers unless they reinstated spending, Yaccarino called the accusations unfounded. The company has already sued the Global Alliance for Responsible Media and several brands for allegedly organizing a boycott of X in the name of online safety.

Yaccarino asserted that 96% of pre-Musk acquisition advertisers were back and characterized the company as nearing a return to 2022 ad revenue levels. Marketers are still cautious, however, citing lingering reputational issues and sentiments of being pressured into advertising.

X and Polymarket partner on prediction markets

X has entered into a strategic partnership with Polymarket, the prominent prediction markets platform, in a development that is poised to transform how users interact with real-time data and political outcomes. Announced on June 6, the agreement makes Polymarket the official prediction market partner of X and will see the latter integrate Polymarket's betting data on the social media network.

The collaboration encompasses several technical aspects, such as real-time data feeds from X, improved annotation functionality using the Grok AI chatbot, and surfacing relevant posts and market fluctuations. Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan says the integration is intended to supply users worldwide with precise and contextualized betting information.

While financial terms were not publicly disclosed, the extent of the agreement implies a profound degree of integration between X's user-facing content and Polymarket's prediction products. Political forecasting, sports lines, and trend reporting can be anticipated to be natively integrated into posts and searchable on X in the near future.

The collaboration showcases X's growing function beyond social networking as it proceeds to embrace fintech, artificial intelligence, as well as real-time analytics elements in order to become an even more comprehensive platform for trading, news, and communication among users.

The Polymarket agreement was announced shortly after prediction markets competitor Kalshi retracted the announcements its founder had made about collaboration with X.