WhatsApp, the world’s leading instant messaging and VoIP service, is testing a new crypto feature that allows US users to send money without paying fees using cryptocurrency.
Novi, a recently launched digital wallet owned by WhatsApp parent company Meta (formerly Facebook) that has been designed for international money transfers, will be used for the new crypto feature.
Novi CEO Stephane Kasriel and WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart jointly tweeted on Wednesday that Novi would be available to some WhatsApp users in the U.S. on a trial basis.
New in the US: use your @Novi digital wallet to send and receive money right within a @WhatsApp chat. People use WA to coordinate sending money to loved ones, and now Novi will help them do that securely, instantly and with no fees. https://t.co/4wG4t8zwKh
— Will Cathcart (@wcathcart) December 8, 2021
“People use WA to coordinate sending money to loved ones, and now Novi will help them do that securely, instantly, and with no fees,” Cathcart tweeted.
Users with a Novi account and access to WhatsApp-Novi can use the payment feature by tapping the paperclip icon and then selecting Payment. Novi noted that there is no charge to send or receive money, and there is no limit to how many times payments can be made.
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.
— Stephane Kasriel (@skasriel) December 8, 2021
“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,” Kasriel tweeted.
