Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s WhatsApp will allow its US based customers to send crypto payments over the messaging app.
Users will be able to send Pax Dollars (USPD) to each other, a stable coin that is linked to the US dollar, supported by Novi, Meta’s digital wallet.
The news was announced by Novi and confirmed by WhatsApp on Thursday.
The Novi wallet currently does not support Meta’s own stable coin, Diem, but there are plans to do this shortly.
To make a crypto transfer, users will deposit US dollars into the Novi wallet, which will be instantly converted into USPD and this will immediately allow them to send the coins to each other via chats in WhatsApp.
There is no cap on the number of times the Novi system can be used to send and receive money through WhatsApp, and there are no fees attached to withdrawing, sending, or storing money, it said, it said.
WhatsApp also says the inclusion of Novi into the system will have no affect on the end-to-end encryption of personal messages.
The move comes as Meta, the parent company to WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, increases its push into the digital and virtual world of the ‘metaverse’.
WhatsApp currently allows its users in Brazil and India to make fiat payments over the app, with the latest news its first venture into the crypto world.