WhatsApp launches Facebook Pay P2P in Brazil
WhatsApp users in Brazil can now send and receive money through Facebook Pay, TechCrunch reports.
WhatsApp users can pay with Visa (NYSE: V) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA) through Facebook Pay. Facebook Pay uses the Banco de Brasil, Nubank, Sicredi, and Cielo payments networks. WhatsApp users complete transactions by entering six digit pin or finger print verification.
Brazil is the second country where WhatsApp offers a payment app. WhatsApp Payments went live in India in February 2018, Market Mad House reports. WhatsApp Payments is an app that relies on India’s Unified Payments Interface.
Can Facebook make money from WhatsApp payments?
Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) is using a different payments system for the Brazilian experiment. Brazil is WhatsApp’s second largest market with 120 million active users, TechCrunch estimates.
WhatsApp could drive enormous amounts of business to Facebook Pay. Statista estimates WhatsApp had two billion users in April 2020.
In particular, Facebook wants access to small businesses and entrepreneurs. A Facebook press release claims there are over 10 million and small and micro-businesses in Brazil.
Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) is using a different payments system for the Brazilian experiment. Brazil is WhatsApp’s second largest market with 120 million active users, TechCrunch estimates.
WhatsApp could drive enormous amounts of business to Facebook Pay. Statista estimates WhatsApp had two billion users in April 2020.
In particular, Facebook wants access to small businesses and entrepreneurs. A Facebook press release claims there are over 10 million and small and micro-businesses in Brazil.
Can Facebook and WhatsApp cash in on Coronavirus
Disturbingly, coronavirus could drive adoption of WhatsApp payments in Brazil. To explain, people could be afraid to use cash because COVID-19 could infect paper money.
Brazil has the world’s second worst coronavirus outbreak. On 17 June 2020, Worldometers estimates Brazil had suffered 929,149 coronavirus cases and 45,467 coronavirus deaths.
Hence, Brazilians could adopt Facebook Pay out of fear of coronavirus. Thus, Facebook could roll WhatsApp peer-to-peer (P2P) payments out in Brazil at the right time.
WhatsApp P2P Rolls Out
Facebook’s WhatsApp payment push continues. However, TechCrunch does not reveal what other countries Facebook will test WhatsApp P2P in.
Also absent from the reporting is any discussion of Facebook’s controversial cryptocurrency experiment Project Libra. However, Project Libra’s video propaganda shows a P2P App.
If the WhatsApp P2P works, it could be a major competitor to Apple Pay, PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL), and Venmo. WhatsApp P2P could also be a major moneymaker for Facebook (NASDAQ: FB).
Originally published at https://geekcrunch.reviews on June 17, 2020.
