WhatsApp messaging app tests crypto payments

Meta Platforms Inc's (FB.O) cryptocurrency wallet, Novi, is allowing a limited number of users to to send and receive money through the social media giant's messaging app, WhatsApp.

The pilot program is open to a limited number of people in the United States Stephane Kasriel Stephane Kasriel, head of Meta’s cryptocurrency and fintech unit Novi, said in a tweet on the 9th of November 2021.

Using Novi does not change the privacy of WhatsApp personal messages and calls, he said.

According to the executive, the new feature is available for a “limited number of people” in the U.S., allowing users to send and receive money on WhatsApp “instantly and with no fees.

There's a new way to try the @Novi digital wallet. Starting today, a limited number of people in the US will be able to send and receive money using Novi on @WhatsApp, making sending money to family and friends as easy as sending a message. pic.twitter.com/dGz3lejri7

Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp at Meta, confirmed the news on Twitter, noting some U.S. users can now send and receive money with Novi on WhatsApp. “People use WA to coordinate sending money to loved ones, and now Novi will help them do that securely, instantly and with no fees,” he wrote.

Meta Platforms, formerly Facebook, has been working on the wallet app for several months, while scaling back its global plans for rolling out a digital currency called Diem on regulatory concerns.