Meta Shuts Down Novi Service in September at Crypto Winter

The Meta Novi beta program, a money transfer service that uses the company’s crypto wallet, will expire on September 1, the service said on its website, a link it sends text messages to its members.

The company said on its website that the Novi and Novi apps on WhatsApp will no longer be available. Novi said that from July 21, users will not be able to add funds to their accounts, and advised users to withdraw their balance “as soon as possible”. Users will not be able to access transaction history or other data after the trial program ends.

A company spokesperson said in an email that the company plans to use Novi’s technology in future products, such as its metaverse project.

“We are already building on our years of building Meta features in general on the blockchain and introducing new products such as digital collectibles,” Meta said in the statement. “You can expect to see more of us in the Web3 space because we are very optimistic about the value these technologies can bring to people and businesses in the metaverse.”

Meta launched Novi’s beta in October of last year amid waning ambitions to dominate the cryptocurrency exchange space. Instead of the new Diem token, which was backed by Meta, Novi ended up using the USDP stablecoin from Paxos Trust Co. To allow wallet users from parts of the United States and Guatemala to transact. Coinbase Global Inc. was Protect the money.

When Zuckerberg testified before Congress in 2019, he tried to dismiss any concerns that his company would support the launch of Diem, then call it Libra, without regulatory approval.

The ambitions of Meta para Diem, an association it was a part of to provide fast and cheap payments via cryptocurrency to the world, have waned in recent years amid regulatory scrutiny. David Marcus, who led the Novi portfolio effort, departed last year. Deem’s assets were sold in January.

While reducing this effort, Meta has expanded its testing to support non-fungible icons, usually art like cute monkeys or penguins, on its websites.

Novi’s Meta ambitions are being developed amid a growing slowdown in the cryptocurrency markets and liquidity problems at major companies such as Celsius Network and Three Arrows Capital.