Meta plans to develop a digital wallet that will allow consumers to purchase digital items such as digital clothing and music, confirm proof of ownership and manage their identity when accessing future Metaverse services, a revealed CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a Facebook post.

The company – which changed its name from Facebook to Meta in 2021 – is also rebranding its Facebook Pay payment service to Meta Pay as “the first step” towards introducing “a digital wallet for the metaverse”.

“Going forward, there will be all kinds of digital items you might want to create or buy — digital apparel, art, videos, music, experiences, virtual events and more,” says Zuckerberg.

“Proof of ownership will be important, especially if you want to take some of these items with you to different departments.

“Ideally, you should be able to log into any metaverse experience and whatever you’ve purchased should be there.

“There’s a long way to go to get there, but this kind of interoperability will provide much better experiences for people and greater opportunities for creators.

“That is, the more easily you can use your digital assets, the more you will value them, which creates a bigger market for creators. The easier you can transact, the greater the opportunities for creators should also be. We can’t wait to build this.

The rebranded Meta Pay service will be “the same easy and secure way for you to shop, send money and donate to causes you care about across our technologies, including Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, as well as anywhere else you would have previously seen the Facebook Pay button when shopping online,” the company explains.

Current Facebook Pay users will be able to start using Meta Pay without having to take any action as their account details, payment method and settings will remain the same.

“This change is rolling out in the United States first and will roll out globally over time,” the company adds.

Facebook Pay launched on Facebook and Messenger in November 2019.

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