Elon Musk’s X Seeks Data Partner to Build Trading Service on App: Semafor

Elon Musk’s soon-to-be super app X, formerly known as Twitter, is looking for a financial-data giant to build a trading hub inside the app, news outlet Semafor reported, citing documents and people familiar with the matter.

According to the documents, X sent a request to financial-data providers in recent weeks asking for proposals on financial content and real-time stock data, among others, Semafor said, adding that It wasn’t clear if any firms had submitted proposals due last week.

The request to the data firms also said that X is offering potential partners a reach of “hundreds of millions of highly qualified users,” but won't compensate them. The firms were asked to put down the amount of money they would be willing to invest in the project, Semafor reported.

Musk, however, said on X that “no work is being done on this to the best of my knowledge.” While this is not a direct denial, it could suggest such a service may be in the works but may not be imminent.

This isn't the first time a potential for a trading hub within the X platform was floated. Earlier this year, social investing platform eToro said it is set to offer trading services of crypto and other assets directly to the users of then-called Twitter through an arrangement with the company.

If plans to build an in-app trading hub do go through, given Musk’s affinity for digital assets - specifically meme coin dogecoin (DOGE) — the platform could easily allow the trading of cryptocurrencies on top of other assets, in particular bitcoin (BTC), which potentially be a safe asset to list from a regulatory perspective.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong earlier this week made public that the Securities and Exchange Commission had told him to stop trading all cryptocurrencies but bitcoin, suggesting that regulators wouldn’t have an issue with that particular cryptocurrency.

Musk had previously announced his plans to allow payments on the X platform, initially only in fiat currencies. Still, he was open to the idea of having the option to add crypto at a later point.

Musk refashioned Twitter to X in July as part of his plans to create an everything-app — much like China’s WeChat — that would allow for a wider variety of services, including payments and gaming. Crypto experts reacted positively to the change, saying that the rebranding could be a “game-changer” for the ecosystem.

Read more: Twitter Is Dead. Long Live Crypto Twitter?