Facebook's reported push into payments on WhatsApp is aimed at replicating the successful feature on WeChat. Analysts say, however, that it will be tough for Facebook to mirror the success of the Tencent-owned app.
Facebook is reportedly looking to push into the payments space with its own cryptocurrency. If successful, such a move could replicate China's massively popular WeChat, but striking gold could be a tall order for the social networking giant.
WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014 in what was the company's largest acquisition ever. Since then, it has largely focused on messaging and a few social features. It's the largest messaging service in the world with 1.5 billion monthly users. Facebook is attempting"to replicate some of the success that WeChat" has had, Barclays said in a note on Monday, adding that becoming"the 'WeChat Of The West' is going to be hard for WhatsApp to pull off."
"Further, the mobile payments ecosystem in China developed vastly different than what we see in the West and across most of WhatsApp's markets," Sandler added.A Facebook representative did not respond to CNBC's inquiries about whether it is trying to replicate WeChat, noting instead that the company did not"have anything further to share" about it's broader payments effort.
Not only does WeChat offer payments, but it also has other financial services like wealth management and micro-loans. Facebook's payments push may not be as ambitious.
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