FACEBOOK has admitted defeat on big cryptocurrency plan.
Mark Zuckerberg‘s Meta firm has revealed that it is closing down digital wallet app Novi after only ten months.
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It marks a dramatic end for the social network’s beleaguered crypto gamble that was supposed to rival Bitcoin.
The app first launched as Calibra in 2019 and was meant to be Facebook’s big jump into crypto with its own digital currency.
But the project failed to take off amid huge pressure from regulators across the world and distrust after the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Bosses put Novi on life support by downscaling plans, turning it into a money-transfer pilot instead.
The trial never got past the US and Guatemala – and now it’s closing down for good.
Users have been warned that the service will no longer be available to use after September 1.
“It’s important that you withdraw any remaining balance in your Novi account before that date,” the site said.
“You can choose to transfer your Novi balance to your bank account or withdraw it as cash where applicable.”
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But Facebook‘s crypto dreams are far from over.
The tech giant plans to repurpose some of the technology behind Novi for other things like the metaverse.
Facebook has already jumped on the NFT bandwagon with a test launched recently.
And the firm has also rebranded its Facebook Pay platform to Meta Pay.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
