WhatsApp on Monday, launched its digital payments service in Brazil which it announced via a blog post and Twitter account, including a one-minute YouTube tutorial on: How to send money on WhatsApp (Brazil).
“We’re excited to announce that starting today we’re bringing digital payments to WhatsApp users in Brazil. People will be able to send money securely or make a purchase from a local business without leaving their chat”.
“In addition, we’re making sending money to loved ones as easy as sending a message, which could not be more important as people are physically distant from one another”.
This comes at zero commission fees when sending money or making a purchase, however businesses will pay a processing fee to receive customer payments, similar to what they may already pay when accepting a credit card transaction. The payment which will be enabled by Facebook Pay [the payment service Facebook launched last year], is with a future plan for people and businesses to use the same card information across Facebook’s family of apps (Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp).
Allaying concerns on payment security, the statement reads: “We have built payments with security in mind and a special six digit PIN or fingerprint will be required to prevent unauthorized transactions. To start, we will support debit or credit cards from Banco do Brasil, Nubank, and Sicredi on the Visa and Mastercard networks -and we are working with Cielo, the leading payments processor in Brazil. We have built an open model to welcome more partners in the future”.
Although there’s no confirmation yet on the specific roll out plan to other countries and how soon, TechCrunch reported in February of 2018, about WhatsApp’s Beta testing in India with hopes of it becoming more widely available in the country after the best testing phase had been completed.
WhatsApp’s closing statement in the blog post however reads: “Payments on WhatsApp are beginning to roll out to people across Brazil beginning today and we look forward to bringing it to everyone as we go forward”.
‘WhatsApp Not Cash App’
On a much lighthearted note, the bone of contention here for some users would be the encouragement of requests hinged on the ease through which payments can be made using the messaging platform. As some comments following the tweet announcement, predict a possible surge in bailout requests while chatting; hence reducing the chances of pandering to the played out excuse of having to leave the ‘business of chatting’ [underlining the phrase “…without leaving their chat” stated in the announcement], to make payments.
Whenever this is rolled out to more countries [and Nigeria], ‘secretive WhatsApp users’ may have to factor this into their continued quest for a discreet online presence, which has in the past included: turning off read receipts and hiding their last seen in order to dissipate untimely barrage of messages as well as unsolicited voice and video calls that may accompany owning a WhatsApp account. As WhatsApp continues to bring just about everything to your app. *big grin*
P.S. In case, you missed the pun in the headline, here’s a now viral precedented video of a “miscommunication predicament” between WhatsApp [the messaging and voice over IP service] and Cash App [the mobile payment service], that now lends credence to the lighthearted note stated above.