Twitter becomes X: Elon Musk's wild (and excessive?) ambitions

Has Elon Musk’s rebranding of Twitter really set the blue bird free? Or has he simply killed it? Since the takeover of the social network in October 2022, things have been going badly. But the new boss has just demonstrated that he has more than one trick up his sleeve. In addition to replacing Twitter with X.com, Musk also intends to take over half the world’s financial system.

Making the most of X

The twittersphere was once again the scene of major turmoil yesterday, July 24. After announcing a measure temporarily limiting the number of tweets available to users, Elon Musk decided to part with the name and logo of his hard-won social network.

Since this morning, Twitter users have struggled to imagine a readjustment of their habits. Meanwhile, for Musk, talk was the order of the day.

Elon Musk says if done right, X would become half of the global financial system. pic.twitter.com/HoslcIxRiP

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) July 24, 2023

In other words, Twitter 2.0 will be more than just a social network. It will become a platform where users can carry out all kinds of payments, and a whole host of activities.

More specifically, Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino explained;

“X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine,”

Web3 in all its glory? The European Union prefers to call such a paradigm by Web4.

The origins of X

According to Business Today‘s research, the creation of X.com stems from the “many challenges and intense pressure” experienced by Elon Musk since 1999. At the time, the American billionaire was fascinated by the banking system. His reading at the time certainly inspired him to imagine “a one-stop shop for all financial needs: banking services, digital purchases, checks, credit cards, investments and loans”.

The infatuation of @elonmusk with the name https://t.co/CZLJi8uLXZ goes way back. Here are some excerpts from my upcoming book, https://t.co/7JGHd10lOC
"When his cousin Peter Rive visited in early 1999, he found Musk poring over books about the banking system. “I’m trying to… https://t.co/2PQr0qQhVG pic.twitter.com/WDdACBZTmc

— Walter Isaacson (@WalterIsaacson) July 23, 2023

Musk biographer Walter Isaacson has shared detailed information about the birth of X since the Tesla boss met his cousin Peter Rive. In particular, he revealed:

• how X.com came to be;

• how Michael Moritz (Sequoia Capital) became involved in the project;

• the first X.com debit card withdrawals;

• the merger with Peter Thiel and Max Levchin’s company (currently known as “PayPal”);

• the disagreement between Levchin and Musk over a software coding issue.

Mr. Isaacson took advantage of this tweet to promote his forthcoming book describing Elon Musk’s revolution in the financial sector.

X and cryptocurrencies

In the midst of all this euphoria, there has been no official word on whether bitcoin or dogecoin will be integrated into the X Corp. ecosystem. Moreover, the fact that Tesla has backed away from BTC payments does not bode well for the future of the leading cryptocurrency on this new platform.

💥BREAKING: X announces that it will implement buying & selling of $DOGE & other #Crypto!

— Crypto Rover (@rovercrc) July 24, 2023

Let’s not forget that Musk temporarily changed Twitter’s logo to that of Dogecoin. A cryptocurrency he is so fond of.

Today, DOGE is up by 5%. A perfectly logical reaction in the cryptosphere. Except that it’s a long way from matching the performance of X token, with its 1,200% increase, and Deus X, at 2,600%.

Elon Musk’s turn to finance, however, should come as no surprise to Cointribune readers, to whom we recently shared information about Twitter’s licensing as a money transmitter.