WhatsApp has for years been working on creating its own payment system and testing it in India, now the social network company has announced the launch of its digital payment in Brazil.
Given the huge number of WhatsApp users in Brazil, it makes sense for the Facebook company to roll out this feature in one of its biggest markets.
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In several countries around the world, people rely on the messaging service not just for texting, but is also heavily used by small Business owners to utilize features such as Catalogs to present their products. As such, adding the option to pay for products through WhatsApp makes it even better.
The new digital payment system is powered by Facebook Pay and will allow user-to-user transactions between friends and family free of charge. However, businesses will have to pay a small fee for receiving money, similar to how card terminals work in stores.
To authenticate payments, WhatsApp will demand the user a special six-digit PIN or fingerprint for payments to go through.For now, only debit or credit cards from Banco do Brasil, Nubank, and Sicredi on the Visa and Mastercard networks are compatible. WhatsApp is also working to add Cielo, and also hopes to bring the service to more partners in the future.
While we look forward to see the payment feature next in India, WhatsApp says its hopes to roll out the features in other regions as time go by.