X Money Hits Regulatory Wall as Musk's Banking Dream Stalls

Elon Musk has spent more than three years trying to morph the platform formerly known as Twitter into a financial services powerhouse. The goal: X Money, a banking and payments service baked directly into the social network.

It's not going smoothly. US regulatory hurdles have slowed the rollout, and industry observers aren't exactly holding their breath. Skeptics question whether X can pull off the pivot from social media company to fintech player — a leap that requires navigating some of the most heavily regulated turf in tech.

Musk has long telegraphed this ambition. The original Twitter acquisition was always framed as a stepping stone toward an "everything app" — think WeChat but for the West. But wanting it and getting past banking regulators are two very different things.

The timeline remains unclear. The skepticism does not.