WhatsApp adds cryptocurrency payment option using Meta’s new digital wallet Novi

WhatsApp is allowing a ‘limited number’ of users in the US to send and receive cryptocurrency within a chat using Meta’s Novi digital wallet.

Novi, which launched as a pilot in October, enables people to send and receive money using USDP (Pax Dollar) through a partnership with Paxos and Coinbase.

Payments are sent as an attachment within a chat and can be transferred instantly. 

There are no fees for sending or receiving money, no limits on how often payments can be sent and no fees to keep a balance in your Novi account or to withdraw it to your bank account.

Novi head Stephane Kasriel announced the WhatsApp pilot on Thursday in a tweet: ‘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.’

Novi is available in Guatemala and the US, but can only be used to send and receive cryptocurrency in the states.

The company says its focus is to help the 1.7 billion adults who do not have access to a bank account.

‘Being shut out of the global financial system has real consequences for people’s lives, and it’s often the most underserved people who pay the highest price,’ Novi shared in a press release.

‘Costs are high and waits are long when people want to send money to their families internationally.

‘The current system is failing them, and there is no digital financial architecture to support the innovation we need.’

Novi is huge step for Meta, as the company has been working to integrate cryptocurrency to its platforms for years.

In June 2019, Meta, which was still Facebook at the time, unveiled its plans for Libra, its own Bitcoin-style digital currency, which would be integrated with the firm’s own digital wallet called Calibra.

There are no fees for sending or receiving money, no limits on how often payments can be sent and no fees to keep a balance in your Novi account or to withdraw it to your bank account

However, the proposal was greatly criticized by experts who said it could be used to spy on what you buy.

They said the social media giant could use information about what users of the site are buying to offer better targeted adverts to attract further investment from firms.

‘A better understanding of who buys what or which brands or popular could aid Facebook in ad measurement, ranking, and targeting to amplify its core business,’ Josh Constine, tech expert and boss of gadget site TechCrunch, said.

Plans to launch Libra have changed, as the currency was rebranded as Diem and Calibra is now Novi, which launched without Diem cryptocurrency – it is instead using Pax Dollars.