Meta’s first foray into the crypto world is expected to end in September with the shutdown of its Novi wallet pilot project. Novi wallet’s website landing page has been revamped to announce to the pilot users that the platform will get decommissioned on September 1.
This now ends an 8-month-long pilot project that saw the users based in Guatemala and the United States trial the crypto-powered payment platform.
Users are advised to withdraw the remaining funds from their respective Novi wallets to their linked bank accounts. All Guatemalan users can also withdraw holdings in cash at a chosen site in Guatemala City. Meta’s wallet pilot Novi will end in September, with the announcement coming days after Mark Zuckerberg teases the possibility of Meta Pay on Facebook.
Novi users are also encouraged to download account information before the closure date, including the transactions and activity on their accounts. From September 1, the users can no longer log into their wallets. Deposits to the Novi wallets will also be discontinued from July 21.
Reporters have reached out to Novi to determine whether there are plans to launch a working product in the future with multiple crypto support. The shutdown of the Novi pilot follows some 5 months after Meta’s stablecoin project Diem was sold to Silvergate Capital Corporation.
Diem was set to be the stablecoin that powered the Meta ecosystem and was originally intended to be the native currency of the Novi wallet. Regulatory pressure in the United States led to Meta selling the intellectual property of Diem to Silvergate that was set to incorporate the underlying blockchain network and assets into its current payment platform.
The failure to launch Diem saw Novi use the Paxos-powered stablecoin Pax Dollar (USDP) as its native dollar-backed token for all its payments. American crypto exchange Coinbase partnered with Novi as its custody partner to manage and store funds. Meta initially wanted to migrate the Novi platform to the Diem blockchain ecosystem once it had acquired regulatory approval.
This imminent end of the Novi pilot comes in the wake of Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg announcing the change of Facebook Pay to Meta Pay on his public Facebook profile on June 22. The utility will remain mostly unchanged, except for the introduction of a digital wallet for the metaverse “that lets you securely manage your identity, what you own, and how you pay.”
Meta’s efforts to integrate cryptos and stablecoins into its network have proved to be an arduous undertaking. Facebook’s parent firm rebranded to Meta, while the Diem network also underwent its rebranding debacle from Libra after massive pushback from regulators throughout the world.
