Elon Musk, renowned for his knack for innovation, might just be planning another trailblazing venture. This time, it’s his social media platform, X app, previously known as Twitter, which appears to be gearing up to transform into a hub for stock trading.
According to a report by Semafor, the X app has been knocking on the doors of financial data firms over the past few weeks. The aim? To enlist their support in morphing this social media giant into a real-time trading platform.
As outlined in the request for proposals (RFP), the potential project aims to harness the power of “real-time information” in the realm of investment, with features like live market data. This development, however, is not without its unique terms. X has requested potential partners to disclose how much they are willing to invest in the project themselves, with no indication of compensation from X’s side.
But it’s not all plain sailing just yet. Musk, in a recent post on X, claimed, “No work is being done on this to the best of my knowledge.” However, this hasn’t deterred speculation about the platform’s future.
Indeed, such an evolution for X wouldn’t be a drastic departure from previous ideas. Since 2022, users have been able to fetch financial data using “Cashtags” — a feature activated by typing a dollar sign followed by a stock ticker symbol.
Moreover, X inked a deal with eToro in April to enable users to trade stocks and other assets through the eToro platform — although this feature is yet to go live.
Musk’s vision for X has always been ambitious. In October, he posted that acquiring Twitter was a step towards creating “X, the everything app.” During Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting last year, he spoke of his “grand vision” for X to become a utility that would greatly benefit the world.
One of Musk’s inspirations seems to be Tencent’s WeChat, a multifunctional super-app dominating the Chinese social media landscape. “If you’re in China, you kind of live on WeChat,” Musk said. “We don’t have anything like that outside of China.”
Could this be Musk’s next big move, transforming X into an all-in-one powerhouse app? Only time will tell, but if Musk’s past successes are anything to go by, this could be another game-changer in the world of social media and investing.