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Facebook opened 2018 with a general ban on all cryptocurrency products, blockchains and coin initials (ICO), including advertising for these. The contents of the digital currency vloggers have also been banned from the platform. The technology giant has been particularly vigilant that his platform has not been proliferated by investments and advertising scams related to cryptocurrency.
Facebook has lifted this ban by June, with many observers claiming it may have recognized tremendous revenue potential with cryptocurrency-related products.
In early December, eagle-eyed observers noted that Facebook posted job offers for blockchain experts.
Now, Facebook is designing a cryptocurrency that can be used for money transfers via its WhatsApp messaging app, reported Bloomberg, citing people with direct knowledge of the business plan.
The sources said that Facebook will initially focus on all related developments in India, where there are more than 200 million users of WhatsApp. The country is also big in remittances where people have transferred up to $ 69 billion in 2017, according to World Bank data.
If this relationship is true, Facebook could be the biggest technology company to bet on the profitability of the cryptocurrency market despite its seemingly love-hate relationship with technology.
Facebook has changed its position on the cryptocurrency
When Facebook outlawed all cryptocurrency, blockchain and ICO advertisers, regardless of whether their activities and activities were compliant with the allowed laws, the company wanted to ensure that the platform could not be exploited by untrustworthy content.
"We want people to continue to discover and learn about new products and services through Facebook ads without fear of fraud or deception, but with that, there are many companies that advertise binary options, Ico and cryptocurrencies that currently do not work in good faith", wrote Rob Leathern, Director of Product Management at Facebook.
Subsequently, Facebook announced an inversion of the ban, allowing advertisers to promote ICOs and digital currencies, provided they submit an application and have been pre-approved by Facebook. Application requirements included the submission of company licenses obtained from appropriate agencies. They must also present documents on their public list and other verifiable public documents.
In May, in view of its inversion, Facebook has created a small group that will focus on the blockchain. In August, the Facebook executive David Marcus left his post from Coinbase, citing "conflict of interest".
Hiring spree for the personal blockchain spotted on the Facebook career page
Prior to Bloomberg's report, cryptocurrency experts were quick to note that Facebook started posting job offers looking for people with digital curriculum design skills. Potential employees will be deployed at the Facebook office in Menlo Park, California.
Among these positions were the blockchain data scientist, the blockchain data engineer, the blockchain software engineer, and the product marketing lead.
Still, the technology giant has remained silent for the reported development.
"Like many other companies, Facebook is exploring ways to harness the power of blockchain technology – this new small team is exploring many different applications – we have nothing else to share," the company said in a statement.
Bloomberg also noted, however, that Facebook now has more or less 40 people in its small group of blockchain employees.
India has almost half a million Internet users. (Source)
A multimillion-dollar market difficult to resist
Reportedly, Facebook has its sleeves on a stablecoin, a sort of digital currency anchored to the US dollar. This would mean that the currency has price stability and could be sustained by reserve assets, making it more resilient to volatility.
Facebook is still far from introducing the currency, according to sources that spoke with Bloomberg. The company is still studying custody assets and a strategic design in which a long-standing currency could be used to protect the value of the planned stablecoin.
The technology giant has every reason to take precautionary measures with this venture, since there were already many entities that failed in their attempts to introduce stablecoins.
Not even the stable base, a digital currency supported by Andreessen Horowitz, a private American venture capital firm, and Kevin Warsh, a former US Federal Reserve governor, has survived a market crash. His biggest obstacle was to get a legitimate category as a protected currency, which is the most important factor to attract potential buyers.
Tether, meanwhile, which is currently the most popular and traded stablecoin, has remained suspicious of some governments and financial agencies because its creators have refused to undergo a review.
On the other hand, the market potential of stablecoins is something that is difficult to give up, especially if Facebook plans to launch the platform in India where currently there are about 480 million Internet users. This number is expected to grow to 737 million by 2022.
While India is second only to China in terms of the number of Internet users, the country of Southeast Asia remains the number one with the largest number of Facebook users since October 2018. The latest data from the statesman they showed that India has 294 million Facebook users. The United States ranked only at number 2 with only 204 million Facebook users.
In fact, Facebook India recorded a 40% increase in its net profit for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. The services of Facebook India Online, which included WhatsApp and Instagram, recorded an increase of 52% for the year ended in March 2018.
