X shifts US creator payouts from Stripe to X Money

MUMBAI: The money is moving, but this time it is not moving off X. The platform is changing how US creators receive payments, shifting payouts from Stripe to its own X Money service as it simultaneously overhauls its creator monetisation system.

From September 2, payouts under X’s Original Content Rewards and Subscriptions programmes for US creators will be routed through X Money. X Creators announced the change on September 2, saying creators would be able to access their money as soon as it is sent.

Creators already using X Money need not take any action. Those without an account will have to open the Money tab in the X sidebar to set it up and receive their next payout.

The change is more than a payment-provider swap. X is trying to pull another piece of the creator economy closer to home, positioning X Money as the payment layer for its wider ecosystem rather than relying on an external processor for creator earnings.

There is also a tax wrinkle. X said it will issue Form 1099-NEC for creator payouts in the US. Creators operating through an LLC will need to provide W-9 information so the relevant tax documentation can be prepared.

The payout change comes just days before X retires its existing Creator Revenue Sharing programme on September 7, 2026. From September 8, existing Revenue Sharing participants will begin getting access to apply for the replacement Original Content Rewards programme.

The new scheme ties creator earnings to qualified impressions generated by original content. Eligible creators can earn from original posts, videos, images and other work they create themselves, while copied material, minimally altered content, aggregated posts and cross-platform reposts are excluded.

Payments under Original Content Rewards are processed every two weeks, with a minimum payout of $30. For US creators, that money will now flow through X Money, while creators outside the US will continue receiving payouts through Stripe.

The shift therefore comes with two changes arriving almost back-to-back: the monetisation programme itself is being rebuilt, while the mechanism used to pay US creators is being brought inside X’s own ecosystem.

For creators, the immediate equation is straightforward: Stripe out, X Money in. For X, the bigger play is to make its social platform increasingly double as a payments platform, with creator earnings becoming another cog in that financial machinery.