I noticed an interesting pattern: as soon as Elon Musk talks about payments in X, Dogecoin immediately jumps. This time, the story repeated itself — the announcement of the launch of X Money in April caused a short-term rise in DOGE, even though there’s no hint of cryptocurrencies in the product itself.

X Money itself looks like a serious project. Musk announced a fintech app with the ability to transfer funds between users, bank deposits, a debit card, and cashback. The platform is already licensed in more than 40 states in the US through X Payments, and there is a partnership with Visa. Essentially, it’s Venmo attached to a social network, not a crypto wallet.

Of course, Dogecoin fell back down. At the time of writing, the price is $0.09, up 1.53% over the last 24 hours. This reflects a well-known pattern: Musk mentions payments, crypto traders start speculating on DOGE integration, but then realize it’s just a fiat product.

But what really catches attention is the 6% yield on remaining funds in X Money. That’s higher than almost all savings accounts in the US and comparable to the yields of money market funds. And it appears precisely at a moment when Congress is discussing the CLARITY law, which is supposed to set rules for stablecoin products with yields.

The question is how X supports this rate — does the company subsidize it to attract users, or is the yield generated through lending deposits? The answer will influence how regulators view this. If X Money launches at scale with such yields before the law is passed, it could create an awkward situation: a fintech platform tied to a social network offering what crypto stablecoins are gradually being legislated away from.

Separately — Bhutan quietly sold about 70% of its Bitcoin holdings. Out of roughly 13,000 BTC in October, only 3,954 BTC remain, worth about $280 million. It seems the kingdom has slowed or even halted mining on hydroelectric power. At the current BTC price of around $72.86k, this is already a significant market move.

Overall, X Money isn’t about crypto per se, but about how traditional fintech players are starting to offer yields that used to be exclusive to banks. And this creates an interesting tension with regulators, who are still undecided on whether non-bank platforms should do this.