Elon Musk’s X social media platform will soon allow users to trade stocks and cryptocurrencies directly from their timelines as the company delves deeper into financial services.
Upcoming features, described by the company’s chief product officer, Nikita Bier, will include “Smart Cashtags.” These will allow users to interact with ticker symbols in posts and execute trades from the app.
The announcement comes as the company prepares to launch an external beta version of X Money, its internal payments system. Musk said the tool is already in internal testing and will be available to a limited group of users within a month or two.
The idea is to make X a single platform where users can message, post, send money and invest, a version of Musk’s “app for everything” vision.
He has compared the launch of financial tools like X Money to the addition of in-app banking services, saying users would eventually be able to manage most of their daily digital activity without leaving the platform.
Elon Musk’s companies have been involved with cryptocurrencies in the past. Its electric car maker, Tesla, holds 11,509 bitcoins on its balance sheet, up from an initial investment of 42,300 made in early 2021. SpaceX currently controls around 8,285 BTC.
Over the years, Musk has also shown his support for the meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin. In 2022, he said SpaceX would accept DOGE for some trading products, echoing a previous move by Tesla. Earlier this month, Musk said he could put DOGE “on the moon.”
