The future of payments is no longer solely about transactions, cards, or digital wallets, it is more and more a story of platforms, ecosystems, and who controls the flow of money in an interconnected digital economy. As social platforms and technology companies expand into financial services, the line between communication, commerce, and banking is beginning to disappear. What is emerging are questions around infrastructure, trust, interoperability, and regulation.
In an exclusive interview with International Finance, Panagiotis Kriaris, fintech and payments expert and Director – Head of Business & Corporate Development at Unzer, shares his insights on X’s move into financial services, the future of digital wallets, and whether the Western market is ready for the super-app model.
From a payments and wallet perspective, what stands out to you about a platform like X moving into financial services?
X is moving into financial services because payments deepen platform economics. Advertising is cyclical, and creator tools alone have limitations. Payments, wallets, and financial services create additional revenue streams while making the platform more commercially relevant.
The strategy also aligns with the broader ambition of turning X into a multi-function platform rather than just a media app. For a platform built around conversations, discovery, and creator activity, payments are the missing piece that allows it to capture the entire transaction layer.
If X succeeds in controlling transaction flows, it can directly monetise activities such as payments, tipping, subscriptions, and commerce while also keeping both the revenue and the data within its own ecosystem.
Digital wallets have evolved significantly over the past few years. What does it take for a wallet to move from being a simple payments tool to becoming a broader financial ecosystem?
A wallet becomes a true ecosystem when it moves into everyday money flows such as salaries, bills, subscriptions, credit, and savings. At that point, it is no longer just a checkout tool but becomes part of a user’s daily financial life.
For this to happen, the platform needs control over balances and accounts. That control allows providers to build additional products such as lending, savings, and foreign exchange services while capturing economics that extend far beyond transaction fees.
The real milestone is when a wallet becomes the primary place where users keep and manage their money.
Platforms like X already have distribution, but payments rely heavily on underlying rails and partnerships. How critical is infrastructure versus user reach in determining success?
Distribution is an important starting point, but payments require a strong operational backbone. Acceptance, settlement, dispute handling, compliance, and security are all critical to making the system work reliably.
Infrastructure directly impacts economics and monetisation. The more a platform controls the transaction flow, the more influence it has over margins, customer experience, and the overall product proposition.
The most successful platforms combine large-scale distribution with tight control over key parts of the payments stack. Long-term reliance on outsourcing is rarely a strategic advantage.
Interoperability has been a key challenge in payments. How important is it for a platform like X to integrate with existing financial systems rather than trying to build a closed ecosystem?
X cannot realistically pursue a closed ecosystem strategy in the early stages. Users still need to move money in and out through bank accounts and cards, otherwise adoption will remain limited.
Integration with existing financial systems is therefore essential for driving early usage and trust.
Over time, however, the strategy may gradually shift toward pulling more activity inside the platform itself. The long-term play is likely to start with full interoperability before progressively increasing the amount of financial activity that stays within the ecosystem.
Compared to established players like PayPal and Venmo, where do you see the biggest gaps or opportunities for a new entrant like X in the wallet space?
The key difference is positioning within the value chain. PayPal and Venmo primarily sit on the payments side, while X can influence activity much earlier in the process — during discovery, discussion, and decision-making.
That positioning gives X the ability to trigger transactions directly within the platform.
However, for that to work, X needs a clear value proposition tied to its own ecosystem, particularly around creators, subscriptions, or in-app commerce. Otherwise, it risks becoming just another wallet without a compelling reason for users to switch.
Ultimately, success will depend on changing user behaviour by offering something meaningfully more convenient or valuable than existing payment platforms.
Trust and security are central to wallet adoption. Do social platforms face an inherent disadvantage when asking users to store and move money within their ecosystem?
Yes. People are accustomed to using social platforms for communication and content sharing, not for storing money.
As a result, users will compare platforms like X not with other social networks, but with banks and fintech companies — especially when financial problems arise.
The only way to overcome that hesitation is through visible safeguards, strong compliance frameworks, and consistent handling of issues over time. Trust in financial services is built gradually and largely depends on how platforms respond when problems occur.
The idea of ‘super apps’ often depends on strong payments integration. Do you think the current payments landscape in Western markets supports that model, or limits it?
Building a super app in Western markets is significantly harder because the payments landscape is already fragmented across cards, banks, and multiple digital wallets.
There are also strong incumbents and heavy regulation, which make it difficult for a single player to consolidate the ecosystem.
The definition of a super app in the West is also very different from Asia. Asian markets often benefited from dominant payment rails or integrated ecosystems that provided a strong starting point for rapid adoption.
In Western markets, a more realistic strategy is to build around specific verticals or user communities first, and then expand gradually.
Looking ahead, do you see digital wallets becoming the primary interface for financial services, and what role could platforms like X realistically play in that evolution?
Digital wallets already dominate the financial services interface for many consumers. Payments increasingly happen through Apple Pay, Google Pay, or local wallet providers rather than directly through banks.
Artificial intelligence is now adding another layer by helping users decide when and how to pay, manage subscriptions, and automate financial actions. That evolution shifts wallets from being simple execution tools into decision-making platforms.
Platforms like X can still play an important role by embedding payments directly into social and creator-driven experiences. However, replacing established wallets as the primary financial interface will remain a much more difficult challenge.