WhatsApp is working on the integration of Novi, the digital wallet of Meta that has recently started the public test phase in the USA and Guatemala: the guys from xda-developers have discovered quite concrete traces by rummaging through the code of the latest Beta version (2.21.22.6) of the messaging app. In a nutshell, it means users will be able to send and receive money with each other for free. WhatsApp already supports direct payment technologies in certain countries, such as India and Brazil, but they are solutions limited to the local market.
Novi is essentially rebranded Calibra. The story dates back to 2019, when Meta, which was then still simply called Facebook (to be clear: we are referring to the holding company that owns the social network Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus and many other things), announced its great plan for the world of crypto. The currency itself would have been Libra, the wallet to manage it Calibra. The plan is not going well at all, as criticism has rained down practically everywhere. Libra changed its name to Diem and formally detached itself from Facebook, while Calibra became Novi – the rebranding to deflect criticism it is emerging as a fairly common pattern for Zuckerberg and associates.
At present, Novi supports only one stablecoin, the Pax Dollar, thanks to a partnership with Coinbase. The stable coin is a cryptocurrency whose value is much more, as the name implies, stable because it is closely linked to that of another financial resource, specifically the US dollar. Meta said Novi plans to support Diem when it comes out, but at the moment there is still no precise information on when this will happen – the necessary paperwork is still underway.
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It is difficult to define the status of the integration of Novi in WhatsApp, but the teardown of the APK has brought to light over seventy strings of text: in practice, these are the written parts of a graphical interface, from the pop-up of fingerprint authentication request upon confirmation that a transaction was successful. This suggests that the mosaic already has a rather well-defined shape and that the timing of the official debut will not be too dilated.
It is interesting to note that according to what the parts of the text reveal, in order for Novi to work the user will have to verify their identity by providing a copy or a photo of a valid document and a video selfie – a procedure that sounds very similar to that for receiving the SPID, for example. Another curiosity: one of the strings still refers to Libra instead of Diem.