Meta Pay and a Single Wallet Experience for the Metaverse
As Mark announced yesterday, Facebook Pay is now Meta Pay. Meta Pay is the same easy, secure way to shop, send money, and donate to causes you care about on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and anywhere you previously would have seen Facebook Pay while shopping online — now with a new name. There is no action required for people, and Meta Pay has started rolling out in the US, followed by a global rollout over time.
The transition to Meta Pay is about much more than a name change; it’s a step toward where we see the metaverse taking our fintech products. We believe web3 tech will underpin many experiences in the metaverse and are leaning into this as we build for the future. For example, blockchain is already changing the way digital goods are created, bought, and sold and powering new ways for people to turn passions into profits. We believe this will only increase as the metaverse develops. This technology and the interoperability it makes possible are at the core of how and why we’re building a new, single wallet experience for the metaverse.
We are in the very early stages of scoping out what this wallet experience might look like, but we’re aiming to build something that puts power in people’s hands in a way that hasn’t been done before. It would be where people can hold their identity to represent who they are, what they own, and how they pay. Just imagine if you could sign in once online to experience any corner of the metaverse, and everything you’ve ever bought digitally is right there with you. This wallet will be a secure place where people can have a portable identity across the metaverse — a place to facilitate transactions within all digital environments.
Offering a portable ID is about more than convenience. It is also a meaningful way to bring more people into the financial system. Today, 1.7 billion people around the world are unbanked and do not have access to basic financial services. One of the main reasons for this is because so many people — 1 billion, in fact — do not have official proof of their identity. Solving this problem could lead to so many people being able to access essential financial services and participate in the world’s increasingly digital economy.
We know that logging in and making payments inside of a virtual reality experience is different and will come with unique security challenges that today’s solutions won’t address. We’re thinking about how best to bring the kinds of security features that are important and familiar to us today into the metaverse. Consider two-factor authentication, for example. If you’re in the metaverse and wearing a VR headset, you won’t want to have to remove that headset and check your phone for a security code. We are exploring ways to make login and authentication better and more seamless in VR.
A useful single wallet experience in the metaverse will also be where people manage their digital assets — everything they have bought, gifted, or received. All of that could be stored in their wallet to take with them into different experiences and worlds. We’ve started with digital collectibles, including NFTs, but there is a lot more to come there, with a focus on building a simple and safe tool to keep everything you acquire online — from concert tickets to digital clothing for your avatar and more. We want the single wallet to further simplify the payments experiences across our technologies, making it easy to use the payment method people want, whether that’s sending money to a friend or buying from a business or creator.
With the single wallet, people and businesses will be able to access the benefits of interoperability in the metaverse. We are at a unique time and place where we have the resources to do this and the world is ready for it. By some estimates, this is a $3 trillion opportunity — that being the amount a fully realized metaverse could add to global GDP.
We’re looking forward to what’s ahead. The transition from Facebook Pay to Meta Pay is the next step we’re taking on the journey to get there.
