News

Visa Partnership Takes X Closer Toward Musk’s “Everything App” Vision

The real-time payment service will launch in the US later this year, as the platform evolves into a Western equivalent of China’s WeChat.

Published

2 years ago

January 29, 2025

Nour Nasir

visa partnership takes x closer towards musk's everything app vision

X is taking another step toward becoming an “everything app” by partnering with Visa to introduce a real-time payment service known as the X Money Account. The news marks a significant milestone in Elon Musk’s vision for the platform, which has been evolving since his $44 billion acquisition in 2022.

According to X CEO Linda Yaccarin, the new feature will enable users to make peer-to-peer payments via an in-platform digital wallet. The transactions will link to users’ debit cards, allowing them to send money to others or transfer funds to their bank accounts.

Visa confirmed the partnership in its own announcement, stating that X Money will leverage Visa Direct, the company’s instant transfer service. Initially, the feature will be available only in the US, with no details yet on whether it will expand internationally.

Yaccarino described the Visa deal as a “milestone for the Everything App” and hinted at more major announcements for X Money in the near future.

Also Read: A Guide To Digital Payment Methods In The Middle East

Musk’s ambition to create a super app has been well-documented. Even before acquiring Twitter, the billionaire frontman of SpaceX and Tesla had spoken about turning it into a Western equivalent of China’s WeChat — a single platform combining messaging, video, streaming, and payments.

However, entering the financial services space is a risky undertaking for X, putting it in direct competition with other tech heavyweights such as Apple, Google, and Meta.

Finally, as X moves forward with its payment service, it remains to be seen how the platform will navigate regulatory challenges and competition. Whether Musk’s long-standing dream of an “everything app” will materialize is still uncertain, but this partnership with Visa signals a determined step in that direction.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.