The announcement that Whatsapp has launched in-app payments in Brazil has significant implications for the payments landscape globally. This will contribute significantly to the digital payments revolution by habituating users to P2P payments and paving the way for other major platforms and institutions to follow suit.
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Please find below commentary from Blockdaemon CEO and Founder Konstantin Richter on how the announcement will spur the adoption of digital assets and pave the way for the next chapter in the digital payments revolution.
Comment On Whatsapp's In-App Payments In Brazil
Konstantin Richter CEO and Founder of Blockdaemon commented:
"First-off, this is a significant development: enabling payments on an existing platform with massive penetration like WhatsApp will get people comfortable using peer-to-peer communications channels for peer-to-peer transactions. Platforms like WhatsApp can also be a great bridge for onboarding SMEs, so there's a smart overlap with Facebook Shops that can be utilized here too.
The success of the platform will depend on how easy it is to process actual transactions, and how easy it is to onboard and KYC users in a compliant way. It's a business model that puts the costs on the merchant, but that's already the case with credit card companies. The question is, how will the Facebook Pay processing fees stack up against normal credit card fees?
Clearly this will generate some great data-points for Libra and other major payment platforms in development, which will be powered by P2P networks and not by legacy banking infrastructure.
The whole blockchain industry should be watching the evolution of the project closely, because it's going to provide some major signals about the trajectory of mainstream adoption. There will be some indicators about whether this is an incremental step or a leap forward, such as whether Facebook Pay eventually supports Libra or other native digital currencies, or whether the risk factor that creates with international transfers is too high."
