Facebook launches pilot program for Novi, a digital cryptocurrency wallet

 

David Marcus , head of Facebook 's financial services, announced on Tuesday, October 19, the launch of “Novi”, a digital wallet for cryptocurrencies.


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Dawid Sokołowski vía Unsplash | about.fb.com/news

How does Novi work?

Currently, Novi is only available in the United States and Guatemala as it is part of a pilot program to test the main functions and operational capabilities in customer service. The purpose of this testing phase is to observe how viable is the use of stable cryptocurrencies for making payments.


Users who have Novi will be able to receive and send money safely and without the need to pay commissions using the Pax Dollar cryptocurrency, which is a stable currency that has been operating successfully for more than three years and has important regulatory attributes and consumer protection.


Read: How the Winklevoss twins went from losing Facebook to making trillions of dollars with Bitcoin and NFT

Now, Facebook also has its own stablecoin: Diem . However, Marcus said it will be operated through Novi once regulatory approval is obtained.


Marcus did not say when Novi will be released to the world. However, everything seems to indicate that, if the pilot program is successful, it will be done in the short term.


US government, the main obstacle

US lawmakers appear to disagree with this Novi pilot program. Five Senators from the Democratic Party, Brian Schatz, Sherrod Brown, Richard Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren and Tina Smith, sent a letter to Facebook requesting that it "immediately suspend its pilot of Novi, and that it pledge not to bring Diem to market." This is supported by the argument that “Facebook cannot be trusted to manage a payment system or a digital currency when its existing capacity to manage risks and keep consumers safe has proven to be totally insufficient”.



Marcus responded to the Senate that, although he does not know when he will launch the final version of Novi and Diem, his support for them has not changed and that he has every intention of moving forward with these two projects once the cryptocurrency receives regulatory approval.

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