Nathaniel Popper, technology reporter at the New York Times, tells his 37,700 Twitter followers that, according to his sources, Facebook is targeting big sums from outside investors for its cryptocurrency initiative.
According to Popper,
“Update on Facebook’s cryptocurrency: Sources tell me that Facebook is now looking to get VC firms to invest in the Facebook cryptocurrency project we reported on earlier this year. I hear they are targeting big sums — as much as $1b.
Given that one of the big allures of blockchain projects is the decentralization, getting outside investors could help Facebook present the project as more decentralized and less controlled by Facebook.
One person I spoke with said that Facebook is talking about using the money as collateral for its cryptocurrency. Facebook has been designing the coin to keep a stable value, pegged to a basket of foreign currencies held in bank accounts.
It’s interesting to think of one of the richest companies on earth raising money. When was the last time they did outside fundraising?”
Facebook has steadily been building up its blockchain team as reports circulate that the company is working on a cryptocurrency for cross-border payments that will be integrated on popular messaging app WhatsApp, a flagship subsidiary.
As Facebook moves into blockchain, it’s grappling with yet another major data breach that highlights the pitfalls of centralized data systems that are routinely used across multiple industries.
According to a report released last Wednesday by UpGuard, a cybersecurity research firm, Facebook exposed over 540 million records about its users on Amazon’s cloud computing service. The leaks appear to have occurred through third-party applications that exposed personal and private information including account names, user IDs, details about comments, reactions to posts, friends, photos, location check ins, and unprotected Facebook passwords for 22,000 users.
The latest breach follows previous lapses and concerns that the social media giant lacks the ability to protect its 2.3 billion active monthly users and that the company has flagrantly targeted young children for the excessive use of its services.
Facebook’s data breaches raise concerns about how the tech giant will be able to launch a cryptocurrency while adhering to principles of transparency and decentralization without injecting intermediaries and corporate controls.