WhatsApp, owned by Mark Zuckerberg, has also taken an important step in cryptocurrency payments, just like Facebook. A new pilot has been launched that allows a limited number of people in the US to send and receive money in a chat using cryptocurrency.
The feature is powered by Meta’s digital wallet Novi, which was piloted 6 weeks ago and is paid using Pax Dollars (USDP). That’s why the news was announced jointly by Novi’s new president, Stephane Kasriel, and WhatsApp’s Will Cathcart.
According to the statement made on Novi’s official website, it is easy to send money with the least amount of messages thanks to this new service. All you have to do is click the paperclip icon on Android devices and the + icon on iOS and select the “Payment” tab from the menu that opens.
Moreover, there is no need to pay any fees or to keep a balance in your Novi account to send or receive money. When you follow the relevant stages, the payments are transferred to the other party instantly.
Novi, which currently supports only English and Spanish languages, is still in the pilot phase.
The roots of the new pilot actually date back to Facebook’s digital currency Libra in 2019.
To be remembered, Facebook worked hard for Libra, but fell victim to a series of regulatory impositions. A lot of water has flown under the bridge since then, and it’s called Libra Diem. The Libra Association lost a few of its high-profile members and became the Diem Association and Calibra became Novi. Facebook’s name has recently changed to “Meta”.
Facebook founding CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that he has been planning to change the Facebook name for a while. With this change, the company, which opened the doors of the metaverse universe to the end, looks like it will come up with much bigger virtual projects in the coming days.