WhatsApp Pay Casino

In June 2020, Facebook launched WhatsApp Pay, a digital payments service. The service was rolled out in Brazil, which was an attempt of the provider to capitalize on the popularity of the instant messaging app in this emerging market. However, soon after its launch, the service was suspended by Brazil’s central bank.

According to the latest news, Brazilians who use WhatsApp will soon be allowed to make payments through the app after the central bank had given the green light to Facebook to offer its new in-chat feature in this country. Stay with us to learn more about Whatsapp Pay and whether it will soon be available as another online casino payment method suitable for Brazilian gamblers.

What Is Whatsapp Pay and How It Works?

It’s all in its name: WhatsApp Pay is a payment feature integrated into the popular instant messaging app that allows users to make online payments. At the moment of writing this article, the app allows only peer-to-peer transactions, meaning that users can send or receive money only to or from people in their WhatsApp contact list.
WhatsApp Pay is based on Facebook Pay, so you can use your Facebook Pay PIN or device biometrics every time you send money to protect yourself from unauthorized activity.

To make transactions through the app, you need to add a supported debit or credit card and verify it. Initiate a payment by choosing the share file icon and selecting ‘payment’ from the shortcut menu. You will find it by tapping on the three-dotted icon in the top right corner of the screen. Add the amount you want to send and enter your Facebook Pay PIN or device biometrics to complete the transaction with no fees. You will receive a confirmation message once the transaction is finished.

From Ambitious Launch in Brazil to Ban and Threats

Originally, WhatsApp Pay was launched in 2018 as part of a trial run. It took Facebook two years to launch it, and although the feature was initially tested in India and Mexico, Brazil was the first country where the full-scale rollout of the product happened. It comes as no surprise, knowing that more than 120 million people in this country use Whatsapp for instant messaging.

The first step is always the hardest, and it seems that this proverb applies even to the biggest players. After the launch of Whatsapp Pay had been announced in June 2020, Facebook faced an unexpected blow from Brazil’s central bank. Only a week after the payments feature was rolled out, the country’s central bank directed Visa and Mastercard to stop processing payments through it and threatened the messaging app with fines.

License

The central bank stated that Whatsapp Pay could damage the existing payments system in Brazil. They added that Facebook had not obtained the needed licenses. In the meantime, to be precise in November 2020, Brazil got another instant payments system called Pix. Launched by the central bank itself, Pix has been widely adopted. Its key advantage over Facebook’s service is that Pix allows payments between businesses and individuals.

Anyway, according to the news published by Reuters on March 30, Facebook surrendered to regulatory pressure and instead of relying on existing central bank licenses obtained by Visa and Mastercard, it has obtained formal approval as a payments initiator in Brazil. So, WhatsApp Pay will use Visa and Mastercard as processors only. The card networks also had to obtain permits to operate with the messaging app now regulated by Brazil’s central bank.