SAN FRANCISCO — Elon Musk’s Twitter may be getting into the payments business.The social media company last week filed registration paperwork to pave the way for it to process payments, according to a filing with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, which was obtained by The New York Times. The move comes as Mr. Musk seeks to transform Twitter after purchasing the company last month for $44 billion.Mr. Musk has moved rapidly to overhaul the social media service, laying off half its work force last week and adding subscription features to boost revenue. A self described “free speech absolutist,” the billionaire has also said he would roll back many of Twitter’s content rules, though he has changed nothing yet and plans to form a council to help make those decisions.Businesses that conduct money transfers, exchange currency or cash checks are required to register with FinCEN, and to report suspicious transactions to the agency. A FinCEN spokeswoman said the agency does not comment on specific businesses. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Turning Twitter into a payments processor would be a return of sorts for Mr. Musk to his early days in the tech industry. In 1999, he helped found X.com, an o …
