Facebook-owned WhatsApp has been working with its payment service for the last two years. With this, WhatsApp launched its payment service in Brazil on June 14, but now this service has been banned, although not by the government, but by the Central Bank of Brazil. The Central Bank has said in a statement that commissioning the service without monetary authority analysis can harm the payment system in the area of competition and data privacy. The Central Bank's decision is nothing short of a shock for Facebook.
The number of WhatsApp users in Brazil is more than 120 million i.e. 120 million. As such, Brazil is the second-largest market for WhatsApp after India. The central bank's decision will also affect the digital currency libra of Facebook, and a WhatsApp spokesperson has said that the company is working with the local partner and the central bank to resolve the issue. Earlier on Tuesday, Visa and MasterCard's operations with WhatsApp were suspended.
Central Bank had said that it is mandatory to get approval from market participants to keep the payment running. Actually, WhatsApp had launched its service in Brazil without the permission of the Central Bank, which is now suffering. It is also being said in several reports that the Central Bank in Brazil is going to start its payment service Pix by the end of this year with the regulator which will have more than 980 partners.
Jio launches new recharge plan
