ambcrypto.com
The world of cryptocurrencies has received another boost with Facebook, the social media giant, wading into the crypto-verse. Latest reports reveal that the Mark Zuckerberg-led company is working to make its own cryptocurrency that will be functional over the company-owned WhatsApp network. The organization has also stated that the first target for testing it will be India with its burgeoning population of 1.3 billion people, out of which WhatsApp has a hold on 200 million.
A source close to the company stated:
“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.”
Reports have suggested that the company is working on a stable coin, a cryptocurrency pegged to the United States dollar. With this concept, Facebook is planning to minimize volatility “including a plan for custody assets, or regular currencies that would be held to protect the value of the stablecoin”.
This is not the first time that Facebook has forayed into the crypto-verse, with the appointment of ex-Paypal president David Marcus to head the blockchain initiative. The latest news also caught the eye of Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. He had said:
“It’s about time. There is no reason for any IM app not to issue their own utility token. Let’s see who is next. The early movers have a huge advantages on adoption (merchants etc). LINE and Telegram both issues their tokens already. Just a matter of time they use it for real.”
Facebook was also in the news recently when I was announced that Litecoin can be managed and directly accessed on the platform via Lite.IM. The news of the announcement was released on their twitter page:
“We are happy to announce that @liteim_official is now live on Facebook Messenger. 2Bn+ @facebook users now have direct access to easily and securely, send, manage and invest in Litecoin.”
The stablecoin market has seen its ups and downs in 2018, with the main example being Tether. Tether has been caught in a myriad of controversies ranging from disproportionate price to missing linked funds. Facebook’s entry into the market is seen as a sign by a lot of people involved in the cryptocurrency space to push digital assets into the mainstream realm in 2019.