Facebook’s Novi digital wallet ready to be launched in market: Report

Last updated on September 13th, 2021 at 05:18 am

Facebook is all set to launch its digital wallet to allow users to store cryptocurrencies. According to media reports, the Mark Zuckerberg-led social media giant will be launching digital wallet named “Novi” in the coming months. In a blog post last month, David Marcus, head of Facebook’s crypto unit, noted that Novi could play a key role in fixing the global payments systems.

“Change is long overdue. It’ll happen one way or another. Novi is ready to come to market. We feel that it’s unreasonable to delay delivering the benefits of cheaper, interoperable, more accessible digital payments,” Marcus wrote in the blog.

Facebook is planning to launch the Novi digital wallet alongside blockchain-based payment system Diem. Reportedly, regulatory concerns related to the social media platform’s data privacy and money laundering issues have resulted in the delay of the programme. It is expected to provide both domestic and cross-border payments to benefit Facebook in creating ample amount of wallet accounts. The tech giant is aiming to use Novi to reduce the cost of transaction and boost cross-border payments.

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Diem was spearheaded by Facebook under the Libra project after it faced multiple hurdles. In December 2020, Facebook changed the Libra’s name to Diem, strategically shifted its operations from Switzerland to the United States.

As of now, Diem Association is involved in dialogue with US and other global regulators to address necessary legitimate issues.

“Novi has secured licenses or approvals in nearly every US state and it won’t launch any place where it has yet to receive clearances,” said Marcus.

Work underway for NFTs products

Furthermore, Facebook is looking at developing non-fungible tokens (NFTs) related products and features. NFTs are specific assets that represent digital collectibles including video, music and virtual paintings.

“We’re definitely looking at a number of ways to get involved in the space. When you have a good crypto wallet, like Novi will be, you also have to think about how to help consumers support NFTs,” Facebook’s crypto chief had told Bloomberg. He added that Facebook Payments has facilitated over $100 billion in payments volume in the last four quarters and its being used across 160 countries for carrying out payments in 55 currencies.