Facebook launched the Facebook Pay service in Russia and Ukraine without prior announcement, according to users. It is currently available in a limited mode.
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The service is not expected to compete with cryptocurrencies, ForkLog’s experts say.
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“Facebook Pay has no relation to cryptocurrencies in any way. It is more appropriate to compare it to payment services like PayPal or the Chinese WeChat,” said Dmitry Kryshstal, Chief Business Development Officer of MonolithosDAO.
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In his view, Facebook Pay is primarily aimed at competing with these services.
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Arseniy Poyarkov, Vice President of the National Association of the Digital Economy, believes that the payment system within Facebook could compete with giants such as Visa and Mastercard.
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Facebook Pay is a centralized service, and thus comparing it with cryptocurrencies is rather difficult, experts say.
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“A payment system of this kind is tethered to a corporation or a state in exactly the same way as current traditional currencies are tethered to central banks,” emphasized Anatoly Knyazev, co-founder of EXANTE.
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The problems surrounding Facebook’s planned digital currency indicate that “the payments systems of American companies will comply with all regulator requirements on KYC and AML and will be no different from traditional payment systems,” added Arseniy Poyarkov.
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A representative of the Garantex cryptocurrency exchange, Tatiana Maksimenko, also noted that the centralization of Facebook Pay “does not justify placing it in the same category as cryptocurrencies.”
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“The use case of cryptocurrencies also differs: Bitcoin itself is more likely to be used as a store of value, rather than for everyday microtransactions, while stablecoins such as USDT are used to speed up cross-border financial operations,” she noted.
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According to her, Facebook Pay is more of a tool for “everyday, routine micro-payments between users, a quick transfer of funds from one user of the social network to another.”
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Dmitry Kryshstal also shared a similar view:
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“Facebook Pay is a tool for some petty quick payments. Given data leaks, unclear ethical policy, and cases of outright content censorship, Facebook users are unlikely to use Facebook Pay for transferring substantial sums,” noted Kryshstal.
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The service was launched in November 2019. It allows purchases in Facebook’s other products—Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp.
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Facebook Pay supports cards from most payment networks, including Mastercard and Visa, as well as PayPal payments.
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