Meta’s Novi cryptocurrency wallet is shutting down

Meta is closing Novi, its short-lived cryptocurrency digital wallet. In a sighted by , the company announced that it will be retiring the platform on September 1, with July 20 being the last day to add funds. Meta advised users to withdraw their funds “as soon as possible,” noting that after Novi’s last day of operation, it would “attempt to transfer the remaining funds to customers’ bank accounts and debit cards.”

For now, the shutdown effectively marks the end of Meta’s cryptocurrency ambitions. The company Novi last October. The wallet launched without support for Diem – Meta’s in-house cryptocurrency, previously known as . A month later, David Marcus, the company’s crypto chief, . In early 2022, the Diem Association announced it was “winding up” operations.

But the demise of Novi and Diem doesn’t mean that Meta won’t create another digital wallet. “We’re already leveraging the years we’ve spent building capabilities for Meta overall on blockchain and introducing new products like digital collectibles,” a company spokesman said Bloomberg. “You can expect to see more of us in the Web3 space because we’re very optimistic about what these technologies can bring to people and businesses in the Metaverse.”

In fact, last month the company announced that it was . At the time, Mark Zuckerberg called the change a “first step” toward creating a digital wallet for the Metaverse. The manager said he envisioned a future where Meta Pay would act as a place to store all the digital items you buy or create in virtual worlds.