2018-12-17 23:30 |
Back in May 2018, Facebook formed a cryptocurrency team to explore the possibilities, and today it removed a roadblock to revealing its secret plans. Blockchain could help tackle some of Facebook’s most bothersome problems, like identity verification or advertising sales. It’s also the technology behind most cryptocurrencies, logging ownership and transfers of the digital tokens.
We’ve known about Facebook’s blockchain research group for about a year. Since last year, Facebook has assigned a team of employees to explore blockchain technology, including how blockchain could improve Facebook’s various business processes. It’s not unusual for a major corporation to explore how a new technology could be integrated into their business.
Cryptos can be used on Facebook for the following reasons:
Pay for subscriptions on the social media platform Pay for ads not to be displayed on their news feed Rewarding users for CPU usage (mining) Tipping rather than just liking posts Paying business ads on the platform Expanding its already existing marketplace to allow it to transcend international borders Launching a crypto wallet with exchange services Micropayments fused with cross-border transactionsThe hiring spree comes a few months after one of the biggest management reshuffles in Facebook’s history, which saw former PayPal president David Marcus appointed the lead of an exploratory blockchain group. Mr. Marcus, who was previously vice president of Facebook Messenger, gave few details about his new role at the time but said he would report directly t the company’s CTO Mike Schroepfer.
The same page goes on to describe the jobs and the kind of employees they are looking at.
“Our blockchain team is fundamental to that mission and we are seeking an experienced leader to build and manage a new product marketing team focused on exploring the opportunity the blockchain will bring. This person will be responsible for creating our product strategy for developers and consumers, managing our product go-to-market plans and coordinating a cross-functional team to bring great solutions to connect the community.”
Alex Heath, a reporter for Cheddar ha earlier said: “They’ve been very quiet about what they’ve been working on, very stealthy, but it’s definitely going to be a kind of blockchain-based cryptocurrency payments product. They’ve already got policy people in D.C. to ramp this up.”
also talked Facebook Blockchain with @lisahopeking / @thebradsmith on @cheddar yesterday — top takeaways are that FB's brand is a problem for recruiting in the space and it's going to likely do meaningful M&A to achieve its goals pic.twitter.com/nVoiqnZ9HG
— Alex Heath (@alexeheath) December 14, 2018
Given the progressiveness and ambition for technology apparent in the team at Facebook, it is only safe to conclude that the idea of a cryptocurrency on a facebook blockchain network has crossed their minds.
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