Elon Musk grilled by senator over X Money plans

Elon Musk is facing questions about his upcoming payments platform, X Money, and whether it will allow users to safely perform transactions. In a letter to Musk on Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) writes that X Money could pose a risk to “consumers, our national security, and the stability of the financial system,” citing Musk’s “track record operating X.”

But Warren, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, isn’t convinced that Musk can safely operate a payments service. The letter notes that X has faced criticism from regulators over the circulation of child sexual abuse material, including some generated by its AI chatbot Grok. It also cites a report from the Tech Transparency Project, which found that X allows users subject to US sanctions — including people affiliated with Hezbollah and Houthi officials — to pay for a Premium subscription. “This track record raises serious questions about the privacy, scams and frauds, and illicit finance risks X Money may pose,” Warren writes.

The letter also references the screenshots of X Money posted by Star Trek’s William Shatner, who recently gained early access to the platform. One of the screenshots mentions that X Money deposits are “held by Cross River Bank,” an institution Warren says faced a “serious enforcement action” by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in 2023 for “unsafe and unsound practices related to fair lending.” Warren adds that “the bank is a repeat offender, as it was subject to a previous FDIC enforcement action in 2018 for unfair and deceptive practices.”

Warren calls attention to the DOGE-led dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as well, which finalized a rule in 2024 for the agency to oversee digital payment apps like X Money. “You stood to gain from the dismantling of the CFPB and its authority,” Warren writes. “Following DOGE’s incursion at the CFPB, Acting Director Vought closed the agency’s headquarters, attempted to fire almost 90% of its staff, and terminated pending lawsuits and enforcement actions against financial institutions that had violated the law, among other actions to defang the agency.” The crypto-friendly GENIUS Act also includes a “suspicious carveout” giving private companies like the X the ability to launch stablecoins, Warren writes, coinciding with X’s hint at potential plans to get involved in the crypto market.

Warren is giving Musk until April 21st to answer more than a dozen questions about X Money, including whether Cross River Bank will act as its partner, whether it plans to issue a stablecoin, and what controls the service will have to prevent scams, fraud, and illicit finance. Warren is also pressing Musk on whether X Money will “surveil and monetize consumer transaction data.”

The Verge reached out to X with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.