Facebook’s Novi Taps Paxos, Coinbase Ahead of Diem Rollout

Facebook’s Novi wallet is ready to launch – but it won’t be launching with the Diem (formerly Libra) stablecoin.

Novi, Facebook’s digital wallet subsidiary, will go live in the U.S. and Guatemala in a pilot program, allowing users to start trading the Paxos Dollar (USDP), the social media giant announced Tuesday. Crypto exchange Coinbase will provide custody services for the program.

Users can purchase USDP through Novi, and Novi will deposit the funds with Coinbase, according to a Coinbase blog post.

“This does not mean our support for Diem has changed,” the Facebook press release said. “We intend to launch Novi with Diem once it receives regulatory approval and goes live.”

The pilot has already gone live, but is being rolled out slowly on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, Facebook said.

Facebook originally announced Novi alongside Diem in June 2019. At the time, the wallet, then known as Calibra, was intended to support the then-Libra stablecoin before regulatory backlash changed the scope of the project.

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Nikhilesh De

Nikhilesh De is CoinDesk's managing editor for global policy and regulation. He owns marginal amounts of bitcoin and ether.

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