Social media giant Meta (Formerly Facebook) has announced a new pilot program for Novi digital wallet in the United States. In this new trial operation, the company will allow a limited number of users to send and receive money via Meta’s social messaging app Whatsapp.
David Marcus and others who have led the Novi project announced the move via a Tweet Wednesday night. Marcus, the head of the crypto division at Meta and one of the founders of Meta’s stablecoin project ‘Libra’ (now Diem), just announced on November 1 that he is leaving the company by year-end.
Another small step in the right direction. Today, we’re starting the rollout of the @novi wallet in @WhatsApp in the 🇺🇸. On a personal level, this is the best farewell gift from the best team ever! pic.twitter.com/6jk4NO60wv
— David Marcus (@davidmarcus) December 8, 2021
Stephane Kasriel, who has been responsible for Novi’s products, will replace him. According to Kasriel, the new function will make it easy to send money from WhatsApp to a limited number of users in the United States. In addition, there will be no transaction fees for sending and receiving cryptocurrencies and no limits on the number of transactions.
Novi started a trial operation between the United States and Guatemala in October. It examines the basic functionality of the app and customer service and compliance aspects. However, users in Guatemala will not experience the new WhatsApp payments functionality and will continue to use the Novi wallet app.
Another small step in the right direction. Today, we’re starting the rollout of the @novi wallet in @WhatsApp in the 🇺🇸. On a personal level, this is the best farewell gift from the best team ever! pic.twitter.com/6jk4NO60wv
— David Marcus (@davidmarcus) December 8, 2021