So Elon Musk went ahead and announced that X will launch its payment service, X Money, later this month. The crowd has already started speculating about crypto integration, and DOGE even surged for a moment. Classic.

But here’s the point: X Money is basically a Venmo with a social network attached. Person-to-person transfers, bank deposits, debit card, cashback with Visa. No crypto wallet. Musk has already said he loves Dogecoin, and Tesla accepted DOGE in 2022, so every time he talks about payments, DOGE fans get FOMO. This time isn’t different, even though the product is purely fiat currency.

DOGE is fluctuating, with a 0.50% increase in the last 24 hours, but this pump-and-dump speculative pattern has been happening since 2021. Whenever Musk mentions payments, DOGE rises in hopes of integration.

What really matters here isn’t whether DOGE will be included. It’s that 6% yield Musk mentioned. Six percent on a balance within an app used by hundreds of millions of people? That’s higher than almost any savings account in the US and directly competes with money market funds.

The timing is a bit suspicious. Congress is debating the CLARITY Act, which will set rules for yield-bearing products. The key question is: should non-bank platforms be able to offer returns like deposits to users? If X Money comes out with a 6% APY before this law passes, it creates an uncomfortable situation. A social media app in fiat currency managing to offer what crypto products are being legislated not to provide.

Elon Musk is really shaking up market structures here. It’s not just about payments or Dogecoin. It’s about how regulation will respond when a billionaire with a huge social network starts offering financial services that compete with the traditional banking system. Too interesting to ignore.