Payment strategies discussed during Money20/20 session by X

In the realm of digital payments, trust is a precious commodity, and Twitter, formerly known as X, is currently grappling with significant trust issues. These issues, which include staff cuts, security concerns, misinformation proliferation, increased harassment and hate speech, and a user number decline, have made users hesitant to provide their payment information.

At Money20/20, a renowned event focusing on the future of payments, the speaker delved into the reasons behind these trust issues with Twitter's payment plans. The talk offered valuable insights into the challenges faced by these payment plans and aimed to draw wider lessons for the industry.

The speaker's discourse was part of a broader discussion on trust in the payment industry. The growing adoption of payment services by other social media companies reflects the potential for payments on Twitter. However, for Twitter to capitalise on this potential, it must address the trust issues it currently faces.

Twitter, prior to its acquisition, served as an informal market for peer-to-peer (P2P) and business-to-consumer (P2B) payments, particularly around creator payments and charitable donations. Now, Twitter is likely to focus on P2P payments and ecommerce when it launches its payments services.

To bolster its initiatives in the payments space, Twitter has acquired Money Transmitter Licenses in the US and may look to expand internationally. The company is making strong regulatory moves, signalling its seriousness in making its foray into the payments industry successful.

However, Elon Musk's own activity and the platforming of controversial figures on Twitter are eroding trust for many users. This, coupled with the slow start of Twitter Subscriptions, which has only found evidence of around 35,000 users worldwide two months after launch, indicates that Twitter has a long road ahead in regaining user trust.

The cross-border payments market, a potential avenue for Twitter's payment services, is estimated to reach a size of 16 trillion USD by 2030. Elon Musk aimed for 11% revenue from payments by 2028 for Twitter before the acquisition. The size of the cross-border payments market by 2030 was not specified in the article.

Money20/20 provided an opportunity to apply insights from previous reports on Twitter's payment plans, offering a platform for the speaker to offer lessons on maintaining user trust in payment plans. The talk at Money20/20 was intended to offer these lessons, and the wider industry will be watching closely to see how Twitter navigates these trust challenges.