Facebook Is Working on a Cryptocurrency for WhatsApp Transfers
The ultimate master at social media, Facebook is mulling over its plan to make an entry in crypto space. It is developing cryptocurrency for users of the messaging service WhatsApp.
Sources familiar with the matter reveals that Facebook will be focusing first on the remittances market in India. Also, the firm is building a stablecoin, a digital currency tied with the U.S. dollar. Its connection with USD is expected to decrease volatility. However, Facebook is not intending to launch it very soon, as it is working on the strategy for custody assets which will be tied with the stablecoins.
As the firm is exploring the emerging technology of Blockchain, a spokesperson from Facebook said, “Like many other companies, Facebook is exploring ways to leverage the power of blockchain technology. This new small team is exploring many different applications. We don’t have anything further to share.”
Notably, Facebook had hired former PayPal president David Marcus to run its Messenger app in 2014. After that, the social media firm was expected to get into financial services. Facebook seems high on hiring currently. It consists around 40 people in its blockchain group.
Marcus stated, “I’m setting up a small group to explore how to best leverage blockchain across Facebook, starting from scratch.”
India holds a massive remittances market across the world. The World Bank revealed that the country received around 69 billion dollars in foreign remittances in 2017. Facebook’s mobile-messaging app WhatsApp is a widely used app in India. It has the number of users more than 200 million in the country. Also, the users in rural India doubled last year.
Back in January, the social media network put a crypto ad ban in order to prevent “ads that promote financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices.” Recently, Facebook’s stance on cryptocurrency seems to be changed.
Remarkably, Facebook holds 2.5 billion users globally. It has more than $40 billion in annual revenue along with significant experience handling regulatory issues. It would be the first huge technology company to launch a project based on stablecoins.
