Digital giant WhatsApp has announced the piloting of a new ‘digital payments tool now available to users across Brazil. The communication app owned by Mark Zuckerberg, the second wealthiest man in the world after Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos bought the company in 2014 along with Instagram in 2012.
The thirty-four-year-old billionaire, announced on the WhatsApp Blog the ability to quickly and safely send money to local businesses without having to leave the chat. The modern tool additionally allows users to securely make transactions to friends and family quickly without any add-on fee.
However, like fees included when customers opt for card transactions, the WhatsApp digital payment will charge only the business owners a modest fee per transaction received. Customers are incentivised by only paying for the cost of the goods or services received.
The messenger app maintains it designed the new tool with safety in mind,
“We have built payments with security in mind and a special six-digit PIN or fingerprint will be required to prevent unauthorized transactions. To start, we will support debit or credit cards from Banco do Brasil, Nubank, and Sicredi on the Visa and Mastercard networks -and we are working with Cielo, the leading payments processor in Brazil. We have built an open model to welcome more partners in the future.”
WhatsApp added that it hoped the service will eventually be taken across global markets if successful in Brazil, “Payments on WhatsApp are beginning to roll out to people across Brazil beginning today and we look forward to bringing it to everyone as we go forward.”
Fingers crossed Brazil takes this inventive tool by a storm and we can begin to “bring more businesses into the digital economy” in a secure and efficient way- creating an opportunity for economic growth for our small and micro-businesses.
