Facebook announced Tuesday the launch of Facebook Pay, a new payment system.

Facebook Pay will handle payments across the Facebook ecosystem, namely, Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

However, only payments via Facebook and Messenger will be available this week in the US.

Fundraisers, in-game purchases, event tickets, person-to-person payments can be transacted on Messenger. However, purchases from select Pages and businesses can be made on Facebook Marketplace.

“Over time, we plan to bring Facebook Pay to more people and places, including for use across Instagram and WhatsApp,” said Deborah Liu, VP, Marketplace & Commerce.

Acceptance of FB Pay

FB Pay supports PayPal and most major credit and debit cards. Also, Facebook has tied up with PayPal, Stripe, and other such companies around the world for processing payments.

Facebook Pay is, therefore, built on existing financial infrastructure and partnerships.

However, it is distinct from the Calibra wallet, which will run on the Libra network, said Deborah Liu.

Interestingly, these same processors hastily dumped the Libra Association following the global pushback on Facebook’s Libra stablecoin.

Libra’s regulatory issues at arm’s length

By separating Facebook Pay from Libra, Facebook is probably trying to avoid regulatory resistance to the new payments system. It stressed that people already used their apps for payments for shopping, donations, and transfers.

“We’ve processed more than $2 billion in donations alone since we launched our first fundraising tools in 2015,” said Ms Liu.

[Related Story: PayPal is AWOL at Libra Association Meeting on Digital Assets ]