Meta is ending its cryptocurrency digital wallet Novi. In a notice spotted by Bloomberg, the company announced that it would shut down the platform on September 1 and that no funds could be added after July 20. Meta advised users to withdraw their balance as soon as possible and stated that Novi will “attempt” to transfer the remaining money to customer bank accounts and debit cards after the last day of operation.
This termination means that Meta’s cryptocurrency targets are actively coming to an end, at least for now. The company began a small pilot of Novi last October. The wallet was launched without supporting Meta’s in-house cryptocurrency Diem, formerly known as Libra. A month later, the company’s crypto director David Marcus left Meta. At the beginning of 2022, Diem Association announced that it was selling its assets and starting to end its operations.
However, the termination of Novi and Diem does not mean that Meta will not offer another digital wallet. In an interview with Bloomberg, a company spokesperson said, “For meta in general, we leverage years spent developing capabilities on the blockchain and launching new products like digital collectibles. You can expect to see more of us in the Web3 space, because we’re very optimistic about the value these technologies can bring to people and businesses in the metadatabase. ” said.
In fact, the company announced last month that it is rebranding Facebook Pay as Meta Pay. At the time of that announcement, Mark Zuckerberg described the change as a “first step” towards creating a digital wallet for the metaverse. Zuckerberg says he envisions a future where Meta Pay will function as a hub to store all the digital items you buy or create in virtual worlds.
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