WhatsApp has started the commercial rollout of its in-app payment service in Brazil, making it the first country where the solution is available widely. Notably, WhatsApp has been testing the service in India for quite a while, but a wider release is yet to happen due to regulatory hurdles.

It must be noted that WhatsApp’s payment service will rely on the Facebook Pay platform, while in India, it is built upon the UPI (Unified Payment Interface) mobile payment system. As for the service itself, users can directly make payments from the chat window without leaving the app.

Also, users won’t have to pay a transaction fee to send payments, but businesses will be charged a standard processing fee. Payments will be protected by a six-digit PIN or fingerprint authentication, and the setup process only requires users to verify their mobile number with the linked bank account.

WhatsApp’s payment service relies on Cielo payment processor and in the initial phase, it will support debit/credit cards from Banco do Brasil, Nubank, and Sicredi on the Visa and Mastercard networks. However, WhatsApp says it has built an open model and will add support for more banks soon.

 

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