Facebook is working hard to expand its blockchain development team. It is also said that the company is building its own cryptocurrency.
Blockchain and social media: can they work together?
Facebook and crypto have had something of a mixed relationship in the past. The social media giant began 2018 following in the footsteps of Google and banning all announcements related to crypts, blockchains and initial offerings of coins (ICO).
Only a few months later, however, the company announced that it was collaborating with the former president of PayPal David Marcus, who would direct the blockchain unit of the company set up last April. Marcus claims to be a long-standing cryptocurrant supporter and also served on the board of Coinbase, one of the largest and most popular cryptocurrency bursars in the world.
Who is the manager here?
The blockchain unit of Facebook now consists of over 40 people, with more than 6 reports from PayPal. The group also contains members of both Samsung Pay and Google Pay. Both divisions offer mobile payment options and digital wallet services to their customers.
Alex Heath of Cheddar fame explains:
"They were very calm about what they were working on, very stealthy, but it will surely be a sort of cryptocurrency payment product based on blockchain." They have already had people in politics in D.C. to make it grow ".
Ramping Things Up
The Facebook cryptocurrency project would be reserved only for Facebook users. Account holders would be able to make electronic payments between themselves without using the "average man" tactic of a traditional bank or a payment center.
Heath also claims that the social media company is embarking on a massive wave of hires that includes development workers, product managers, legal experts and academics who can offer their knowledge and expertise to the growing blockchain group. He writes:
"They are actively recruiting, they are also trying to collect cryptic start-ups that are at the white paper level, which means they do not yet have a product yet … The talent in this area is so limited, and there are so many great players who want these talented cryptographers and academics, so Facebook is behaving harshly with them, and they are having difficulty. "
Trying to get confidence back
This could be because people have lost their trust in Facebook. As a result of the entire scandal surrounding Cambridge Analytica, both users and employers express concern about the distribution of their private data. Heath claims that led to an attitude of total rift in the technology sector:
"The idea of Facebook that creates a cryptocurrency and a digital economy within its ecosystem is incredibly exciting – if you talk to some people – or one of the scariest things in the world if you talk to others It is very polarizing, but they are actively developing it.I think we can expect to see Facebook buy some companies in the cryptographic space in the next year. "
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