WhatsApp is starting to offer money transfers to some users in the US New

Back in October, Facebook (now Meta) launched a small pilot test of your cryptocurrency wallet New in the United States and Guatemala. Pilot testers have since been able to send each other personal payments through the service. Now the company has announced that a limited number of people in the US will also be able to send and receive cash payments within WhatsApp.

The development is not surprising: the co-founder of New David Marcus previously said that Meta will introduce New Payments to all its affiliates, namely Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. For WhatsApp, sending money is almost as easy as sending a message – users won’t even have to leave the app. It’s also an easy way to send money without charging a fee. To do this, users will need to find the desired contact within WhatsApp, tap the paperclip icon on Android or the + icon on iOS in the text bar, select Payment and follow the instructions on how to sign in to your New Account.

New leader Stephane Kasriel said on Twitter: “We often hear that people use WhatsApp to coordinate sending money to loved ones, and New allows people to do it safely, instantly and free of charge. Payments will appear directly in people’s chats.”

Facebook has been teasing its digital wallet and cryptocurrency Diem (formerly Libra) for years, which it was supposed to support. After facing the retreat from regulators around the world, however, the Diem Association shifted its focus and Novi eventually used a stable coin called the Pax Dollar (USDP) backed by the U.S. dollar. On the New, 1 USDP is equivalent to 1 USD. People will not buy cryptocurrency when they use it, and these are simply money transfers that use stablecoin as an instrument. While sending USDP via New on WhatsApp has extremely limited availability for now, Kasriel said the service will seek to expand its reach once it receives feedback from users about the experience.