This week, we learned that Facebook is creating a new team dedicated to exploring how the company can use blockchain technology.
Now, a new report from Cheddar’s Alex Heath indicates the company is “very serious” about potentially launching its own cryptocurrency.
“Cheddar has learned that Facebook is indeed exploring the creation of its own cryptocurrency.
…Sources say Facebook is specifically interested in creating its own digital token, which would allow its more than 2 billion users to facilitate transactions without government-backed currency.
I’m told that payments specifically is a very serious avenue that they want to look into for blockchain, and that really goes to show with who they put in charge of the group – in David Marcus. He’s a payment expert – like I said, president of Paypal. He’s a huge crypto enthusiast and early crypto investor. He sits on the board of Coinbase which is one of the largest crypto exchanges.”
Heath says sources indicate Facebook is planning to use the coin to facilitate payments on a grand, worldwide scale.
“I think the allure of this to Facebook is being able to be this global payments and digital wallet infrastructure for its more than 2 billion users around the world. So being able to facilitate transactions across borders without the need for government-backed currency – that’s something that we’ve seen Telegram doing with its initial coin offering.”
In response to the report, Facebook neither confirms nor denies plans to create its own coin:
“Like many other companies, Facebook is exploring ways to leverage the power of blockchain technology. This new small team will be exploring many different applications. We don’t have anything further to share.”
We’ll keep you posted on any new updates to this story.
Related: Social Media 2.0: Tipper and Selfllery Take Aim at Facebook (Owning Everybody’s Content)
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