Facebook Pay becomes Meta Pay

The transformation of one of the world's most important social networks, Facebook, into Meta, made headlines a few weeks ago. More than a change of identity, this new name reflects a fundamental strategic shift for the group, which is determined to maintain its activities in the Metaverse. This transformation concerns all of Meta's activities, including those of payment.

FACTS

• Stéphane Kasriel is head of commerce and financial meta-technology at Meta. He has just published a blog post stating that the Facebook Pay service will be renamed Meta Pay in the coming weeks.

• This change logically follows the change in the identity of the entire group, but above all reflects a strategic transformation for the payment service. It should enable Meta to consolidate its position in the emerging meta-vendor environment.

• More than a payment service, Meta could carry multiple functionalities into the Metaverse:

• to prove one's identity in the Metaverse,

• to store digital assets

• to serve as a global digital wallet for different means of payment.

CHALLENGES

• Seize the opportunities of current changes: New digital assets are currently emerging as solutions for monetising content and virtual goods. And Meta Pay intends to establish itself as one of the solutions of the future.

• Developing a single wallet: Facebook Pay is currently used to make payments in 160 countries and 55 currencies. Meta Pay plans to become a reference payment method within the Meta universe.

• Contributing to global financial inclusion: Meta is particularly targeting the estimated 1.7 billion people worldwide who lack access to basic financial services. In any case, this is one of the arguments put forward by Stéphane Kasriel to justify the upcoming expansion of Meta Pay.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• Facebook-Meta's digital currency projects have gone through many ups and downs over the years. The group even chose to launch its Novi digital wallet without its in-house Stable Coin called Diem.

• Since then, rumours have been circulating that a new virtual currency is being prepared within the group. The challenge is to find an innovative alternative to Facebook Pay, which relies on intermediaries to exist.

• Its new name nevertheless proves that this great upheaval is not yet planned for tomorrow and that Meta is not yet ready to fly with its own wings on the payment market, including in alternative universes.