Facebook and Cryptocurrency sound like an interesting match. Facebook had already established a dedicated internal team for working with blockchain technology. And now it is thinking of launching its own cryptocurrency.
The new team is headed by Messenger chief David Marcus. The team is focusing on leveraging the blockchain technology power to improve Facebook.
About David Marcus
Marcus is somewhat an aficionado of cryptocurrency. It is evident from his early investment in Bitcoin. He also joined the board of Coinbase, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges operating worldwide. He has stated that cryptocurrency has huge potential to improve the effectiveness of Facebook. According to a statement to CNBC, However, Marcus said there are many issues with cryptocurrency. For example, the lengthy time needed to complete and verify a transaction. Similarly, cryptocurrency is still very expensive.
Marcus was the head of PayPal. During his time at Facebook, he decided to split Messenger from Facebook.
About the Newly formed team
Marcus is responsible for finding out the answers to how this dominant Social Media can leverage the power of cryptocurrency. He has recently been running the standalone messenger app. At the beginning stage, the team will have less than a dozen people. Additionally, the team will include executives from Instagram. Among others, the team will include Instagram’s VP of engineering, James Everingham, and Instagram’s VP of products Kevin Well. And from now on, the Messenger app will be headed by Stan Chudnovsky.
Facebook and Cryptocurrency
Facebook knows it can easily bring cryptocurrency into the mainstream. It has billions of users. As of the first quarter of 2018, it had 2.19 Billion Active users. So, introducing and controlling a Facebook cryptocurrency will put Facebook in a unique and dominant position.
Facebook has recently removed every Cryptocurrency related advertisement from its platform. However, as the recent scandal broke out that Facebook leaked user information of about 80 Million of users, puts Facebook in a position where federal regulators will have a watchful eye on them.
