Arizona Grants Twitter's Money Transmitter License

The state of Arizona recently joined Michigan, Missouri, and New Hampshire in approving a money transmitter license for Twitter subsidiary Twitter Payments LLC, as confirmed by the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS), reports Paymentsdive. James McGuffin, an assistant director at the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions, verified the issuance of the license during a Monday interview.

This significant milestone allows Twitter to enable its users to send and receive money, aligning with the vision of owner and CTO Elon Musk, who acquired the company in October last year. Musk has ambitiously presented investors with the goal of generating $1.3 billion in payment revenue for Twitter by 2028, as reported by the Financial Times. As Twitter seeks alternative revenue streams, Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur leading Tesla and SpaceX, initiated the acquisition of the social media giant. The company's advertising revenue has reportedly declined this year, necessitating Musk's pursuit of a payments feature to address the challenge.

Based in San Francisco, Twitter has applied for money transmitter licenses across all U.S. states and territories, as indicated by a filing with the Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. However, despite this nationwide effort, Twitter will face competition from existing payment tools like Venmo and Zelle, which have already established themselves in the market.

Initially appointed as CEO of the Twitter Payments unit and entrusted with spearheading the new feature's development, Twitter product manager Esther Crawford was reportedly let go earlier this year, according to news reports in February.