American tech giant and social media firm, Meta Platforms announced on September 1 as the data it will close the Novi Wallet pilot project and cease to continue operating the infrastructure.
The company made this revelation by rebranding the landing page of the Novi wallet platform with additional details on the next steps to take for users who have joined in the testing of the platform.
“Novi will no longer be available for use after September 1. Before Novi goes away, we’ve made it easy for you to get your remaining balance and download your Novi information,” the Novi home page reads.
Novi Wallet is the first attempt by Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) to wade into the world of cryptocurrencies. The wallet is meant to brandish support for multiple digital currency projects including the Diem Stablecoin which is primarily designed as the base currency for the platform.
The dive of Meta Platforms to introduce Diem (formerly Libra) attracted a lot of regulatory criticism from around the world as regulators feared the powers Meta would wield knowing it controls a large number of user’s data through its social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.
The winding down of the Novi pilot project comes as no surprise as regulators are unrelenting in ensuring that the Meta digital financial innovations do not see the light of day.
As a part of its plans to wind down, Meta says users in the United States and Guatemala who have locked funds on Novi will need to add a bank account to Novi if they have not already done so. The platform detailed that while users can withdraw their funds from their wallets to the designated banks, Guatemala users will have access to a physical location where they can walk to redeem their funds.
Prior to the September 1 deadline, Novi says deposits will be halted on the 21st of July.
Meta Platforms and the Chase into Oblivion
The first foray of Meta Platforms into the emerging cryptocurrency ecosystem did not obviously go as planned. The company sold the Intellectual Property of the Diem stablecoin project to Silvergate Capital Corp (NYSE: SI), a move that also significantly marked the end of the project which it built for many years.
While its failings in the crypto world may be very obvious, Meta Platforms is undoubtedly making advances in its Non-Fungible Token (NFT) push. The company which first integrated NFTs into Instagram earlier this year has also started trials for digital collectibles integrations into its parent platform, Facebook.
The tests are limited to users in the United States for now, however, with Instagram launching global expansions for the new feature, Facebook is also set to follow suit. Meta Platforms is a data giant, and regulators are ready to stand in the way of anything that may impact the government’s financial control. NFTs do not seem to rank in this category, hence their elimination.
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