Novi will end its operations on September one. The project allowed sending remittances through WhatsApp to Guatemala.
The attempt of Meta, before Facebook, to be one of the most prominent entities in the digital asset sector is fading more and more. The company reported that its Novi wallet would no longer be available as of September one of this year.
Users will have the chance, until that date, to extract the personal information they brought to the network to complete their registration.
The company explained in an announcement posted on its website that, before the platform shuts its doors, users would be able to withdraw the remaining balance and download their personal information from Novi in a simple way.
According to Coindesk, the company said to users that, as of July 21, they would not be able to deposit funds in their accounts. Likewise, the WhatsApp social network account will not work, nor will the wallet application.
The use of WhatsApp to receive and send funds was one of the company’s latest proposals in December 2021. The service allowed to send money in the tablecoinpaxdollar (USDP) and became enabled on a pilot basis only in the United States of America.
Another pilot plan was the active Novi digital wallet to send remittances between Guatemala and the United States of America. Novi employed the Pax Dollar (USDP) stablecoin through partnerships with startup Paxos and exchange Coinbase. In such a way, users would send and receive money instantly, safely, and without any cost.
Regulator pressure
Novi, which went through several improvements since its creation when it was first named Calibra, was part of the troublesome Libra stablecoin project that got later renamed Diem. The wallet tried to bring interoperability with the messaging apps operating on the Facebook platform, Messenger, and WhatsApp; and have the possibility to send funds to friends or family.
However, all of Facebook’s strategies with the stablecoin got pressured because of regulators on a global scale. These regulators were worried about problems such as security, money laundering, and consumer protection.
Although the company did not express what motivated the cessation of Novi’s operations, this accumulation of regulatory obstacles that the project faced for several years, added to the so-called crypto winter that the market is experiencing, could give the push they need to close the doors.
By: Jenson Nuñez
