Looks like Facebook is showing interest in cryptocurrencies
The blockchain is the new bleeding technology if you want to send some quick bucks. Though almost everyone is into this new technology, Facebook has taken a great interest in the technology. Facebook has been so fascinated with the technology that the company has formed a concurrency team to explore the possibilities.
David Marcus who is on the Coinbase board stepped down today. The former head of Facebook Messenger would now be leading the Facebook Crytpo team. Marcus was formerly the president of PayPal, and then eventually helped Facebook Messenger to include chat bot commerce and peer-to-peer payments.
Already being exposed to Facebook’s technology and the company’s way of doing things, David was the natural choice for such a job. David Marcus’ stepdown was due to the conflict of interest between both the companies. Though he would be resigning his post from the board, there is no sign of animosity between him and the company.
Facebook is not yet geared up to publicly start talking about its plans as it has not yet finalized on applications for a blockchain. But what might Facebook have in mind with a blockchain?
Unique Strategy
Facebook, with all the resources it has, could build its own cryptocurrency wallet that could be used to pay for products or services that are partnered with Facebook or sold through Facebook ads. Since the transaction costs on Blockchain are very cheap, Facebook could avoid the credit card processing fees and carry on with this new method.
This would also allow Facebook to give out discounts on products that are being sold through the social network. With 65 million businesses that have Facebook pages, this should not be much of a problem for the company. The social network could sell a ton of products, and the company can also partner with businesses to get their products sold.
Facebook already lets peer to peer payments, but that is possible when it is linked to a connected debit card or a PayPal account. But now with this new technology, Facebook could very well offer cryptocurrency-based payments via friends, and could also offer a wide range of users use this method of payments for day to day transactions.
This way, the company could see active users in its crypto-wallet, and could also see a growth in the number of active users on its texting app Messenger too. Facebook also has another feature called Facebook Stars that allow users to send payments to their favourite video stars and game streamers. Though the company takes a cut from the payments, the majority of the amount would be shared with the stars to whom the amount is sent.
Facebook could also implement cryptocurrency via this too, thus making the transactions seamless and easy.
Seamless Process
Another way by which Facebook would be using this feature is by giving an identity to block chains and transactions. Wallets could be connected securely, and goods can also be sold via a secure process. Usually, transactions via cryptocurrency is a long process that includes putting in long complicated alphanumeric keys that are very hard to memorize, and are also annoyingly hard to input.
With its expertise, the company could give a huge boost to cryptocurrency, and could help in making the process way more secure and easier to use. Facebook also has a rapport with never having a security breach, or being hacked. Hence the company could build on that rapport and could also provide a secure gateway to such payments.
Whatever the case, we can hope that the company uses the technology they have for good, and push the limitations of cryptocurrency.
