Elon Musk’s X Partners with Visa for Payment Services, Drawing Concerns From Capitol Hill

Elon Musk has been in the news quite a bit in 2025. His role in President Donald Trump’s administration has made waves in the first two months of Trump’s second term as president. Musk is leading the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which — according to executive order — aims to update “Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”

In years past, stories about Elon Musk often covered innovations at his automotive company, Tesla, or his involvement in space exploration through his technology outfit, SpaceX. Musk’s career as an imaginative business owner has taken a back seat to his political work in 2025. But careful observers will note that his business dealings are still taking place even if they’re being overshadowed by his work with DOGE.

Most recently in the news is that Visa has agreed to partner with the platform’s X Money Account, per a post from Linda Yaccarino, X’s CEO.

Yaccarino detailed in her post that X Money Account would be available later in 2025 and would allow users to conduct person-to-person payments and instantly transfer funds to their bank accounts.

We checked in with Michael Hershfield, Founder and CEO of Accrue, to learn how the marriage between Visa and X may benefit consumers.

“The rise of wallets over the past few years in the USA, and alternative payment methods like Zelle and Venmo, leads me to believe that consumers will explore the application,” Hershfield told us. “The key will be what the core value prop will be and is it unique compared to what is out there.”

The deal between Visa and X has drawn scrutiny from the U.S. Senate. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) — the Ranking Member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations — wrote a letter to Visa CEO Ryan McInerney earlier this month expressing his concerns over the partnership between the payment card services corporation and X. Blumenthal highlighted issues with X’s security as one reason he wants Visa to provide more information about the deal.

“As the largest payment processor in the world, Visa has a legal responsibility to ensure its network is free of financial crime such as scams and fraud, money-laundering, terrorist financing, and more,” Blumenthal wrote in the letter.

Musk purchased Twitter in 2022, rebranding the platform as X. He revealed his intentions for the company in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing submitted in April of 2022.

“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk wrote in the filing. “Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.”

Part of Musk’s plans to unlock this potential ostensibly include offering a Visa-backed financial tool through the social media platform. Including a transaction method on X aligns with Musk’s previously announced plans to transform the site formerly known as Twitter into “the everything app.” 

In a post delving into the reasoning behind changing the site’s name from Twitter to X, Musk unveiled plans to “add comprehensive communications and the ability to conduct your entire financial world” to X’s offerings. But Musk released that communication on July 24, 2023, well before the world knew Trump would become the nation’s 47th president and how integral Musk would be to the administration in the early months of 2025.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has had a tumultuous start to the year as Trump has shaken up the organization’s staff and streamlined its operations. In the days following the presidential election, Musk turned to social media to communicate his support of deleting the CFPB, claiming that “there are too many duplicative regulatory agencies.” 

Now, as the head of DOGE, Musk is at the center of the administration’s efforts to evaluate and change the bureau.

Blumenthal has raised concerns that Musk may have a conflict of interest in offering a payments tool on X while having a hand in steering the direction of the agency that seeks to protect consumer finances.

“DOGE’s actions to diminish the enforcement reach of the CFPB could boost Visa’s new business interests with X Money,” Blumenthal wrote in his letter to Visa. “Equally troubling is the possibility that DOGE and Mr. Musk could use their access to CFPB’s systems to gain a competitive advantage for Mr. Musk’s business interests, in particular X Money.”

Blumenthal’s missive to Visa requests the company provide a description of its plans for X Money, including the proposed business model for the venture. X Leadership hasn’t announced a specific rollout date for X Money yet, and any governmental intervention in the deal may delay the tool’s availability. But Visa’s involvement in the initiative gives it instant credibility in the payments arena.

“As digital wallets become the preferred method for consumer transactions, loyalty will be driven by the need for seamless experiences, with people choosing platforms that offer ease and convenience,” Hershfield told us. “If X can nail down that initial offering and ensure it addresses a real consumer need, it could set the foundation for broader success and adoption in the long term.”