Elon Musk Reveals New Features Coming To X, Mum On Crypto Payments

Tech billionaire and "chief twit" Elon Musk revealed this week that a new set of exciting features will be introduced on the social media platform X, but was mum on the potential integration of a crypto payment feature in the microblogging site, despite it recently obtaining a currency transmitter license from regulators in Rhode Island.

On Thursday, Musk teased that video and audio calls were coming to X, a feature he mentioned earlier this year in his push to transform the platform into an "Everything App."

In his tweet, the tech billionaire and Tesla founder mentioned the upcoming feature will be available on Apple iOS, Android, Mac and PC, allowing users to make audio and video calls without the need for a phone number. He added X will serve as an "effective global address book," while underlining that was the platform's unique "set of factors."

Unfortunately, Musk did not provide the timeline for the features' launch nor details about how it will work. He also did not mention what safeguards were made to ensure the features won't be abused by malicious actors.

The introduction of voice and video calling on X puts the social media platform in direct competition with other apps like Meta's WhatsApp, Apple's Facetime, Meta's Messenger app and even Telegram, which collectively saw billions of monthly active users.

It is not yet known if the upcoming features will be available to all X users or would be limited to Blue subscribers, who pay a monthly fee of $8 per month.

Also, the tech billionaire did not explain what he meant when he said "no phone number is needed," and did not specify if the ability to make calls and video calls will only be limited to those users following each other or to all users even if they don't follow the person they want to call.

Unfortunately, Musk has also not mentioned anything related to cryptocurrency payments, which is one of the highly-awaited features within the crypto community.

On Monday, Twitter Payments LLC, a payment branch of X, secured a currency transmitter license from Rhode Island's regulators, which permits the microblogging site to run crypto activities on behalf of its users, according to the Nationwide Multi-State Licensing System (NMLS).

This particular license is a legal requirement for companies that want to run any activities related to cryptocurrencies on behalf of their users. It includes a wide range of crypto-related services such as payment processors, crypto exchanges, and wallets, underscoring that it will allow X to store, transfer, and exchange digital assets on behalf of its users.