Oliver Haslam·

WhatsApp Launches In-Chat Payment Service, Beginning In Brazil

Popular instant messaging app WhatsApp has launched a new payment service with the debut happening in Brazil ahead of a launch internationally. The payment system will be backed by Facebook Pay, according to the company.

While WhatsApp is generally used by most people to send and receive messages with friends and family, Brazil users often also use the service to interact with businesses as well. That perhaps makes it the perfect market to launch the new payment feature.

The over 10 million small and micro businesses are the heartbeat of Brazil’s communities. It’s become second nature to send a zap to a business to get questions answered. Now in addition to viewing a store’s catalog, customers will be able to send payments for products as well. Making payments simple can help bring more businesses into the digital economy, opening up new opportunities for growth.

Users will be able to send payments for free, while the tab will be picked up by businesses who will need to pay a processing fee. WhatsApp says that fee will be similar to the one businesses already pay credit card processing companies.

And while the feature is going live in Brazil today, WhatsApp’s payments will be coming to those around the world in the future.

At the time of writing, WhatsApp wasn’t putting a timeframe on when that will be.

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