Meta’s Novi Wallet Debuts Payments in WhatsApp

The payment service initiated by Facebook is piloting its wallet for sending Paxos’ USDP stablecoin

December 9, 2021 12:30 pm

Source: Shutterstock

Novi’s first pilot program, launched in October 2021, allowed payments between select US states and Guatemala
The Novi wallet was originally called Calibra, under Facebook’s Libra stablecoin project, which Facebook rebranded Libra to Diem in December 2020, before rebranding itself to Meta in October 2021

Select US users can now use WhatsApp to send payments in US dollar stablecoins, via a new pilot program from Novi, the digital wallet started by Facebook (now Meta).

Novi aims to bring affordable financial services to billions of unbanked people worldwide by allowing them to send and receive money across borders quickly and at low cost using mobile phones.

Newsletter

Subscribe to The Breakdown

Vice President of Product at Novi, Stephane Kasriel, and Head of WhatsApp Will Cathcart, each announced on Dec. 8 on Twitter that the wallet was beginning to roll out on the popular messaging app, which Facebook bought in 2014 for $16 billion in cash and stock.

Unlike the first Novi pilot program launched on Oct. 19, which allowed payments between the US and Guatemala using a separate Novi app, the WhatsApp pilot is only within the US.

Both projects employ Coinbase custody services and enable payments to be made using the USDP stablecoin issued by Paxos. Chad Cascarilla, CEO of Paxos was one of six executives testifyi n g before Congress yesterday, and the company has made efforts to operate within the bounds of regulatory oversight, including by obtaining a banking charter from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

Absent from the new pilot is Meta’s own planned Diem stablecoin. Diem has been the target of pronounced regulato r y scrutiny since Facebook first unveiled its predecessor Libra in 2019. David Marcus, who headed Facebook’s financial services branch, was called to testify to members of Congress shortly after the original project was unveiled, and it has faced an uphill battle ever since.

Marcus, who recently announced his departure from Meta, called the new launch, “Another small step in the right direction,” and “The best farewell gift from the best team ever!”

Loading Tweet..

Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening. Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter now.

Tags

Newsletter

The Breakdown

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Digital Asset Summit 2026

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 24 - 26, 2026

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

buy tickets learn more

recent research

Research

ERC 8004: Introducing Trust for AI Agents

ERC 8004 introduces a new trust layer for AI agents by standardizing onchain identity, reputation, and validation. As agents begin handling capital and coordinating autonomously, trust becomes the key constraint to broader adoption. The rollout mirrors the early x402 narrative, where adoption lagged the initial launch until major integrations and a viral use case pulled attention into the ecosystem. If ERC 8004 follows a similar path, downstream infrastructure tied to the standard could see outsized benefit as the narrative gains traction. The primary beneficiaries are likely to be agent frameworks and launchpads at the distribution layer, agent to agent coordination platforms that enable delegation and payments, and validation providers that offer stronger security and execution guarantees.

by Kunal Doshi