WhatsApp’s Payment Feature Goes Live in Brazil After Suspension

WhatsApp Pay, the chat app’s payment feature, is live in Brazil after June 2020 suspension. WhatsApp Pay was suspended in Brazil by its central bank just a few days after its debut.

The feature is rolling out gradually, enabling WhatsApp users in the country to send and receive cash “as easily as sending a text message” inside the app. David Marcus, Facebook’s head of finance, broke the news on Twitter.

“Very excited to start enabling Payments in WhatsApp in Brazil today,” Marcus said.

The Facebook-owned instant messaging app says users will send and receive cash for free on a support page. It’s also easy to set up. Just add a card, go through the verification process, then voila.

Money sent through WhatsApp is transferred between banks, and the feature is built on top of Facebook Pay.

WhatsApp’s payment feature is also available in India after the November 2020 launch, which came after serious regulatory speedbumps that delayed the rollout. Even in India, the feature was not rolled out widely – rather, it was in so-called graded-manner.

With over two billion users, WhatsApp is one of the popular instant messaging platforms in the world. Enabling payments inside the app would bring convenience for sending and receiving cash, although it remains to be seen how it will fair in other markets.

To date, WhatsApp is available in over 180 countries worldwide.

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