WhatsApp U.S. Users to Get Crypto Payment Facility Via Novi

09. Dec 2021 Posted by Akolkar B on News

Well, after a lot of wait, social media giant Facebook - now Meta - is making a foray into the crypto space. As per the latest report, What’sApp is introducing a new payments facility for the U.S. users

This feature shall be powered by Meta’s own digital wallet Novi which the company launched as a pilot six weeks back. Thus, U.S. users will be able to send and receive money from within the WhatsApp chat with payments in USD-pegged stablecoin Paxos Dollar (PUSD).

Note that the feature shall be available only to a limited number of people. Novi’s incoming chief Stephane Kasrial made this announcement public stating: “We often hear that people use WhatsApp to coordinate sending money to loved ones, and Novi enables people to do that securely, instantly and with no fees. Payments will appear directly in people’s chat”.

As per Novi’s official website, sending the payment is pretty much simpler and works like sending any other attachment within WhatsApp. Users can access this feature via the paper-clip icon on Android or via the “+” icon on iOS. Later, just the “payment” option from the menu that appears.

Novi’s official website notes that there are no fees for sending or receiving money. Besides, there are no limits as to how often payments can be sent. There’s also no fee on keeping the balance in the Novi account or upon withdrawing to the bank account instantly.

Most importantly, the payments do not affect WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption which is currently default for all personal conversations. The WhatsApp Novi pilot is currently available in two languages - English and Spanish.

The new plans from Facebook’s Meta has its roots into Facebook’s cryptocurrency plans officially announced for the first time back in 2019. The Libra project from Facebook has now transitioned into what is called Novi. However, it has been an easy task for Facebook considering all the regulatory hurdle that it has gone through.

Back in those years, there were also reports that Facebook is working on its own stablecoin pegged to the U.S. Dollar. Facebook’s previous project Libra has now become Diem Association with Novi as its digital wallet. Meta’s then head of Novi David Marcus said that the company still remains committed to Diem. “We intend to launch Novi with Diem once it receives regulatory approval,” Marcus tweeted.