Facebook Newsroom: “Simplifying Payments with Facebook Pay”

Facebook Pay will begin rolling out on Facebook and Messenger this week in the US for fundraisers, in-game purchases, event tickets, person-to-person payments on Messenger and purchases from select Pages and businesses on Facebook Marketplace. And over time, we plan to bring Facebook Pay to more people and places, including for use across Instagram and WhatsApp.

Deborah Liu

It would be easy to assume that Facebook is walking back on its grand Calibra plans, after many of its launch partners dropped out of the Libra Association. On the other hand, a separate payment product could be Facebook’s way to test the viability of a larger-scale rollout – and, if successful with customers, to argue with regulators and governments that people want alternatives to centrally managed currencies. At some point down the line, I could even see Facebook quietly swapping the Facebook Pay backend to Calibra, hoping few people will be smart enough to notice…

Payments are processed in partnership with companies like PayPal, Stripe and others around the world. Facebook Pay is built on existing financial infrastructure and partnerships, and is separate from the Calibra wallet which will run on the Libra network