WhatsApp, a unit of Meta, tech giant formerly known as Facebook, is launching a new pilot powered by Novi, Meta’s digital wallet, allowing some people in the U.S. to send and receive money from within a chat using cryptocurrency. The payments can be sent and received using Pax Dollars (USDP), a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar issued by Paxos, Novi’s incoming head Stephane Kasriel and WhatsApp’s Will Cathcart announced on Twitter.
In a tweet posted on 9th December, Stephen Kasriel explained, “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.”
“We’re still very early in the Novi pilot journey, so we made the decision to test this new entry point in one country to start and will look to extend it once we’ve heard from people what they think of this new experience.” He added.
The payments tool is available as a new attachment option in WhatsApp, and there is no limit to how many transactions may be done through the messaging service. Users can include payments in messages by hitting the “+” icon and selecting “Payment” from the menu–”without ever leaving a WhatsApp chat”–in the same way they can with images. Novi wallet is meant for quick and fee-free money transfers, with payments done in USDP, a stablecoin created by blockchain trust business Paxos and pegged to the US dollar.
Last month, code found in a WhatsApp version under development pointed to integration with Novi as well as a digital payment system. It was unclear at the time if the beta coding would become part of WhatsApp or if the version being tested would become part of WhatsApp Pay in the U.S.
The initial plan was to develop a cryptocurrency called Libra which was supposed to be linked to a Facebook digital wallet dubbed Calibra. However, when Facebook rebranded as Meta on October 28th, the digital wallet was also renamed Novi from Calibra. Its cryptocurrency Libra was rebranded as Diem, and the Libra Association was renamed Diem Association.
The earlier launch was met with stiff opposition from the US lawmakers, who wrote an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg to discontinue the digital wallet project. Despite the hostilities, Novi was launched and was available for download on Apple and Google’s app stores. Diem, responded to the letter by claiming that the legislators may have misinterpreted “the link between Diem and Facebook” and that it Facebook was an independent organization.