Trying to make "WeChat for Americans" betrays a profound and deep misunderstanding of the fundamentally different ways China and the West use the Internet. You're never going to get Westerners to use the Internet like China does. It'll fail like all the earlier attempts that were made to do vice-versa over the past couple decades. 

 The same people are pulling the strings. New CEO, same masters.
On requiring biometric data from users, it's for blue checks...for now.

https://i.poastcdn.org/846b0aa4e15bd717f9bf176c3fff5d11f1b7986bbf0cf2cf70b79d94065774a0.jpg