Meta is reportedly shutting down its crypto wallet years after Mark Zuckerberg took a grilling from Congress over Meta’s future projects. According to a new report by Bloomberg, Meta’s digital asset wallet Novi will shut down on September 1st and will prevent users from adding funds starting July 21st. The tech giant advises Novi users […]
The post Tech Giant Meta To Shut Down Digital Wallet Experiment Novi, Says Metaverse Project Coming Next: Report appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
Meta’s wallet pilot Novi is set to end in September, with the announcement coming days after Mark Zuckerberg touts Meta Pay on Facebook.
Meta’s first foray into the world of cryptocurrencies is set to end in September with the closure of its Novi wallet pilot project.
Novi’s website landing page has been revamped to inform pilot users that the platform will be decommissioned on September 1. This ends an eight-month-long pilot project that saw users based in the United States and Guatemala trial the cryptocurrency-powered payment platform.
Users are directed to withdraw the remaining funds from their respective Novi wallets to their linked bank accounts. Guatemalan users can also withdraw holdings in cash at a select site in Guatemala City.
Novi users are also encouraged to download their account information before the closure date, including transactions and activity on their accounts. From Sep. 1, users will no longer be able to log into their wallets. Deposits to Novi wallets will also be discontinued from July 21.
Cointelegraph has reached out to Novi to ascertain whether there are plans to launch a working product in the future with multiple cryptocurrency support.
The closure of the Novi pilot follows some five months after Meta’s stablecoin project Diem was sold to Silvergate Capital Corporation. Diem was set to be the stablecoin that powered the Meta ecosystem and was initially intended to be the native currency of the Novi wallet.
Regulatory pressure in the U.S. led to Meta selling the intellectual property of Diem to Silvergate, which was set to integrate the underlying blockchain infrastructure and assets into its existing payment platform.
Related: NFTs to appear on Facebook, cross-post with Instagram as Meta Web3 expansion continues
The failure to launch of Diem saw Novi make use of the Paxos-powered stablecoin Pax Dollar (USDP) as its native dollar-backed token for payments. American cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase teamed up with Novi as its custody partner to manage and store user funds. Meta had planned to migrate the Novi platform to the Diem blockchain ecosystem once it had attained regulatory approval.
The impending end of the Novi pilot comes on the heels of Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg announcing the change of Facebook Pay to Meta Pay on his public Facebook profile on June 22. The functionality will remain largely unchanged, save for the introduction of a digital wallet for the metaverse “that lets you securely manage your identity, what you own, and how you pay.”
Meta’s efforts to integrate cryptocurrencies and stablecoins into its ecosystem has been an arduous journey. Facebook’s parent company rebranded to Meta, while the Diem ecosystem also underwent its own rebranding debacle from Libra following massive pushback from regulators around the world.
Nonfungible tokens will be found under a tab on creators’ Facebook timelines in a gradual rollout starting in the United States.
Facebook will support nonfungible tokens (NFTs) with a “digital collectibles” tab on creators’ timelines to display their work. Meta technical program manager Navdeep Singh displayed screenshots of NFTs and a creator’s page Thursday on Twitter.
A spokesperson for Meta, the parent company of Facebook, told TechCrunch the same day that the rollout of NFTs on Facebook would be gradual, beginning with select creators in the United States. Eventually, NFT creators will be able to cross-post between Facebook and Instagram, another Meta property. Instagram is also testing NFTs in its Spark AR augmented reality platform.
We're launching NFTs on Facebook! Excited to share what I've been working on with the world. pic.twitter.com/TaV66zRanV
— Navdeep Singh (@navdeep_ua) June 29, 2022
Instagram expanded its NFT trial from the U.S. to international users last week. The app allows NFTs minted on Ethereum and Polygon to be displayed, with other NFTs from Solana and Flow planned as well.
Meta announced in May that it was beginning tests of NFTs on Instagram, with Facebook to follow suit “soon,” according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Other Meta-owned apps, such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, will get NFT display capabilities eventually, he added.
Related: Meta’s Reality Labs posts $2.9B loss: ‘I recognize it’s expensive,’ says Zuck
Facebook rebranded as Meta in October 2021. It has been striving to expand in Web3, but not all of its efforts have been successful. Meta gave up on it attempt to launch the Diem stablecoin in February after significant opposition from regulators worldwide. Nonetheless, Meta filed trademark applications for a Meta Pay payments platform in May and Zuckerberg announced on June 22 that Meta Pay would replace Facebook Pay.
Meta Pay will be available on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, Zuckerberg said. However, a company spokesperson told TechCrunch that Meta “said that it won’t offer the ability to turn digital collectible posts into ads for now” on Facebook, so it appears that Meta will not launch NFT sales there.
The sale of NFTs is expected to launch on the company’s Meta Quest app store, which supplies app and games for Meta’s Metaverse.
Earlier this week, Meta also announced it would join with other tech companies to create a metaverse standards body.
Instagram's parent company Meta announced Wednesday that it will begin testing NFTs on Instagram Stories using its augmented reality platform SparkAR.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said of the announcement, “We're expanding our test so more creators around the world can display their NFTs on Instagram.” The company also mentioned in a recent article, "Creators and collectors will be able to share their digital collectibles across Facebook and Instagram after we begin rolling out the feature on Facebook with select US creators at a later date.”
Zuckerberg confirmed that Facebook is set to support NFTs in the future:
“We'll bring this feature to Facebook soon too -- starting with a small group of US creators -- so people can cross-post on Instagram and Facebook. We’ll also test NFTs in Instagram Stories with SparkAR soon.”
In May, Meta released digital collectibles described by the company as “a brand-new way for consumers and creators to share NFTs on Instagram.”
Earlier this week, Meta also announced it would join with other tech companies to create a metaverse standards body. The group intends to build the next version of the web and develop a shared ethos for Web3 and the metaverse. Some of the companies who joined the initiative include Adobe, Epic Games, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Qualcomm; Apple was noticeably missing from the pack.
Meta isn’t the only company looking to integrate NFTs. It followed social media competitor Twitter, which brought NFTs to its platform back in January. Twitter’s NFT support allowed users to link ether-based wallets to their accounts and display their art as profile pictures. eBay recently acquired Ethereum based NFT marketplace KnownOrigin, expanding its foray into Web3. Even existing DeFi companies like Uniswap are beginning to make moves into the NFT and metaverse markets with their recent acquisition of the NFT aggregator Genie.
Meta announced that it was launching a designer digital clothing store that will allow users to purchase pieces of clothing for their avatars in its metaverse. The company believes that clothing and other accessories will become an important part of the users’ identity expression and that this will entice them to spend money on digital […]
Yahoo has announced its intention to launch a series of Metaverse projects in Hong Kong, apparently creating a brief rally for Decentraland’s native token, MANA.
Yahoo has announced a series of Metaverse and NFT-related activities in Hong Kong, a day after Meta Platforms outlined its own metaverse plans for the region.
Yahoo, a US-based internet media company, revealed that it will host a series of virtual events and concerts for Hong Kong residents in the Decentraland metaverse.
According to Lorraine Cheung, the head of audience at Yahoo Hong Kong, the company sees the Metaverse as an attractive alternative for Hong Kong residents looking to engage in social activities while pandemic restrictions remain in force. On Thursday last week, a nation-wide mandate was introduced requiring that a negative Covid test be provided to enter all public venues such bars and restaurants.
“We hope to use the Metaverse to connect people regardless of time and physical location.”
Yahoo will also launch a non-fungible token (NFT) exhibition called The Abyss of Kwun Tong, which will see local artists virtually recreate the historic neighborhood of Kwun Tong which has been heavily impacted by redevelopment.
Creative Producer Leung Ching-hsuan said that the goal of the NFT exhibition was to “retain humanity using technology.”
On Tuesday, the social-media giant Meta put forward a strategy to work alongside local businesses and organizations such as cafes, schools and art galleries to create ‘“first-hand” Metaverse experiences for residents.
Major companies are increasingly embracing the Metaverse with international consulting firm McKinsey releasing a report this week predicting that Metaverse-related spending could be worth nearly $5 trillion by 2030.
Earlier this year, JPMorgan, the largest bank in the United States, made headlines by releasing a report that called Metaverse technology a “one trillion-dollar opportunity”, alongside opening their own virtual headquarters in the Decentraland metaverse.
Related: 71% of high net worth individuals have invested in digital assets: Survey
Decentraland’s MANA token has rallied today, gaining a little over 14% in the last 24 hours according to data from CoinMarketCap.
South Korea’s rising interest in nascent tech could prompt other nations to take up the idea of metaverse more seriously.
South Korea, a nation known for its strict crypto regulatory stance, is betting big on the metaverse. The government will invest over 223.7 billion won ($177.1 million) directly in various metaverse projects.
The decision to invest in the nascent metaverse tech makes South Korea one of the first national governments to do so. The investment came under the ‘Digital New Deal’ program set up to invest in emerging technologies.
The program is headed by the country’s science and information and communication technologies ministry led by Lim Hyesook. Hyesook called the metaverse “an uncharted digital continent with indefinite potential,” indicating the government’s interest in taking lead in the metaverse tech.
The national fund would be first utilized to build a metropolitan level metaverse platform that would allow citizens to access various government schemes and services virtually, reported CNBC.
The South Korean government’s investment in metaverse projects could prompt other nations to follow the suit.
The reports about the South Korean government’s rising interest in the metaverse first came in February when two major retailers launched metaverse and artificial intelligence integration for their platforms to enhance customer experience.
Related: South Korea embraces the proto-metaverse
South Korea has been known to be a technologically progressive nation and it has taken proactive steps to promote the nascent technology of blockchain. It was among the first governments to introduce blockchain use cases for government offices, which set the precedent for other countries to follow.
Metaverse is a virtual reality setup with a nonfungible token acting as a commodity ( a piece of land, cloth, avatar, etc.). Although the concept is quite new, it has generated the biggest hype in the crypto world after NFTs. All major mainstream tech firms, be it Facebook, Google or even Apple have shown great interest in the concept. Facebook went as far as changing its whole brand to Meta.
Metaverse was one of the key topics of discussion during the recently concluded World Economic Forum (WEF) 2022, where experts predicted that metaverse would help in various fields especially medical and rescue operations where at times it becomes impossible for humans to carry out tasks in person, and a virtual reality set-up can help immensely.
Meta Platforms Inc., formerly Facebook, has filed five trademark applications for “Meta Pay.” The filings cover a wide range of cryptocurrency services. The company is renaming Facebook Pay to Meta Pay. Trademark Applications for Meta Pay Meta Platforms Inc., formerly Facebook, filed five trademark applications for “Meta Pay” with the United States Patent and Trademark […]
The five applications suggest the social media firm may use its namesake in a payments processing platform called Meta Pay.
Social media giant Facebook's parent company, Meta, may be planning to launch a payments platform with support for cryptocurrency.
According to records submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, on May 13, Meta filed five applications for its namesake to be used in a platform called Meta Pay. The filings included Meta’s name for use in a “online social networking service for investors allowing financial trades and exchange of digital currency, virtual currency, cryptocurrency, digital and blockchain assets, digitized assets, digital tokens, crypto tokens and utility tokens.”
Meta Platforms Inc. (i.e. Facebook) has filed 5 new trademark applications for:
— Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) May 18, 2022
"META PAY"
The filings indicate that @Meta plans to launch a payment platform called "META PAY" for users to exchange old-fashioned regular money and cryptocurrencies.#Meta $FB#Metaverse pic.twitter.com/W2ObxgAWfl
In March, Meta filed eight trademark applications with the USPTO related to Metaverse and blockchain technology. CEO Mark Zuckerberg also said on May 9 that the company had begun testing digital collectibles on Instagram, signaling a move toward adding nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. Meta currently controls several major apps including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Facebook.
Other companies based in the United States including Gatorade producer Stokely-Van Camp, the Air Force, the New York Stock Exchange, and Mastercard have filed similar applications related to possible entries into the Metaverse or otherwise expanding into the crypto space. According to the USPTO website, trademark applications take roughly eight months to process the first action as of March.
Related: Meta’s Reality Labs posts $2.9B loss: ‘I recognize it’s expensive,’ says Zuck
Since rebranding from Facebook to Meta in October 2021, the social media giant has announced many initiatives seemingly aimed at extending a hand to crypto users. In addition to its work online, Meta also recently expanded its real-world presence with the opening of a brick-and-mortar metaverse-themed retail store in the San Francisco Bay Area.
