Facebook is the world’s de facto social media platform, but in recent years has tipped over to meta-wind turbines as part of founder Mark Zuckerberg’s drive towards the meta-verse. It’s easy enough to laugh at the gruesome videos from virtual meetings and the thought of us all spending our days in a scarier version of PlayStation Home, but Meta-nee’s Facebook size means it can put significant support behind the projects it believes in. .
One of these was Novi, a money transfer service based on Meta’s proprietary crypto wallet. The Novi pilot was launched in October 2021, but was in itself something of a step backwards: where Meta once intended to support its own cryptocurrency, Diem, congressional scrutiny led Zuckerberg to promise that it would only do so with regulatory approval. Diem’s assets were sold by Meta in January 2021.
Novi did not use Diem, instead investing in Paxos Trust Co.’s USDP ‘stablecoin’ and allowing users in the US and Guatemala to participate in the scheme. Meta has now announced on the service’s website that it will be closed down on 1 September 2022 (opens in new tab)less than one year after the pilot started.
The Novi app and Novi on WhatsApp will close, and as of July 21, customers will not be able to add money to their wallets. The service provides full instructions on how to withdraw the balance: one of the few benefits, I guess, of having something like this supported by Meta.
It is a big step down from Meta and is happening in connection with a huge devaluation of cryptocurrencies in general. Of course, this will not be the end of Meta’s attempt at crypto, and a statement given to Bloomberg makes it clear that it is more like the top of shitberg:
“We are already taking advantage of the years spent building capacity for Meta in general on blockchain and introducing new products, such as digital collectibles. You can expect to see more from us in the web3 site because we are very optimistic about the value these technologies can provide. to people and businesses in the metaverse. “
Yes, Zuck’s next job is to sell your mother a unique digital penguin with sunglasses.
Metas stumbles in the crypto country is not uncommon: after all, this is an entire industry built on clean air and faith. Diem itself was a relaunch of an intended “stablecoin” called Libra, which was in full swing until Zuckerberg was rocked over the coals by the US Congress in 2019: Meta was mainly accused at this time of creating the perfect tool for money laundering of money.
Such was the criticism that Libra became Diem and the total scope of Meta’s crypto ambitions was reduced to only developing its own wallet: although few would have foreseen that the whole thing would apparently crash and burn pretty soon. Goodbye Novi: we barely knew you.
