Brazil’s central bank said on Monday that tests had begun to trial payments via Facebook Inc’s messaging service WhatsApp in the country, calling them an “important advance.”
In a statement, the bank said that the tests involve no real money and are not part of the Facebook, Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc’s official requests to operate the payments system in Brazil. Those requests are still being analyzed, the central bank said.
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WhatsApp is working with Cielo, Brazil’s largest credit and debit card operator, to process the payments. The news sent Cielo’s shares soaring 30% on a day when stocks worldwide, including in Brazil, were in red due to fears of a second coronavirus wave.
WhatsApp tested the system in India beginning in 2018.
The company has over 120 million individual users in Brazil, its second-largest market behind India.
