A pair of Democratic lawmakers in New York are asking the state’s Department of Financial Services to halt social media company X owner Elon Musk from starting a payment system on his platform.

Assembly member Micah Lasher and state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, asked the department not to issue a money-transmitter license to X Corp., the Musk venture that is looking for authorization from all U.S. states to launch the X Money payment system. New York could become a roadblock for Musk’s company.

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“What we’re talking about is nothing less than Elon Musk becoming a permanent part of the country’s financial infrastructure — with access to enormous quantities of consumer data, including the data of New Yorkers,” Assembly member Micah Lasher, a Democrat from Manhattan, told Gothamist. “I think it would be grossly irresponsible and contrary to the law.”

In the letter, the lawmakers said Musk has “engaged in a pattern of reckless conduct, in both business and government, that has put consumers at risk and demonstrated a lack of character and general fitness.” 

They pointed to his work with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, which has played a major role in the government laying off thousands of federal employees for the stated purpose of eliminating “waste, fraud, and abuse.”

New York state law outlines that the agency should consider a money transmitter applicant’s “financial condition and responsibility, financial and business experience, character and general fitness” and issue a license only if it believes the applicant will do business “honestly, fairly, equitably, carefully and efficiently … and in a manner commanding the confidence and trust of the community.”

X Money is one piece of Musk’s plan to make X, formerly Twitter, an “everything app.” He envisions a future in which users would be able to facilitate financial transactions, in addition to using it as a social media and video sharing platform.

X users are already able to send money, including digital assets, to others through its tipping feature.

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Before Musk closed on his purchase of the platform for $44 billion in 2022, he had shown interest in creating his own version of a platform similar to China’s WeChat, which is an all-encompassing platform that supports video chats, messaging, streaming, and payments. Musk has been planning a “super app” since the 1990s when he launched a startup called X.com, which later merged into what became the X social platform.

If Musk is successful, X Money could be a competitor to Venmo, Zelle and Apple Pay. In January, X Corp. announced it partnered with Visa.