Digital payments are back on WhatsApp and this time to stay: the long-awaited feature may soon arrive in Italy too
On WhatsApp it's time, once again, for digital payments. After a fleeting appearance during the month of June last year, the application dedicated to messaging among the most used on the planet is back in charge with some interesting news while aiming to expand the scope of the service.
It was June 18, 2020 when WhatsApp announced the possibility of making money transfers directly through its application. Not even a week later, the feature available only in Brazil but with expansion plans already in the works, was blocked indefinitely due to suspicion of anti-competitive behavior by the Central Bank of Brazil. The whole thing, therefore, ended with nothing in sight while waiting for a resolution that, today, almost nine months later, seems to have finally arrived, so as to allow the application to return to the field and aim at new markets.
Payments WhatsApp, what has changed?
If, last year, to block the payment system was the fear of penalization of Brazilian banks and technology companies in the financial sector, as well as suspicion of risks related to the management of personal data of users, this time WhatsApp seems to have been given the green light to try again to break into the sector, also thanks to the possibility of using the channels of Visa and Mastercard to manage the transfer of money. And thus join another rather fierce competitor: Apple Pay Cash.
To make the difference with the system of Cupertino there is, however, the very nature of WhatsApp. In fact, if the payments of the bitten apple can be made exclusively between Apple users, WhatsApp has on its side the possibility of being exploited at the same time by iOS and Android users. All this, with an audience that has no comparison: only in Brazil users of the app exceed half of the 213 million inhabitants, a number that Cupertino can hardly beat.
Payments WhatsApp, when they arrive in Italy?
Although WhatsApp has not hidden even in the past the desire to expand the range of countries in which to extend the payment service, currently has not been made known a concrete plan on the future stages and timing of release. However, the message from one of the application's spokesmen is very hopeful. According to Forbes, he confirmed that the platform is completing the final preparations to allow the use of the feature as soon as possible. Italy, therefore, may still have to wait some time before being able to start using the internal feature of the app, perhaps after an extended testing phase carried out in more attractive markets, such as India. It will be, in fact, on these territories that the most important game will be played, where the payment system could undergo an unprecedented revolution.