A half try again one digital currency The parent company of Facebook and Instagram is exploring the possibility of creating new financial products. This time we are just talking about a virtual currency, not related to the technologies related to cryptocurrencies.
According to a report from the Financial Times, the company’s employees have sarcastically called the project “Zuck Bucks‘, the Zuckerberg dollars.
Not a cryptocurrency, but a fully centralized and meta-controlled in-app token. Conceptually, it would be a currency similar to that of some popular video games, such as i Robux by Roblox or Fortnite’s V-Buck. In this way, the company should immerse itself in much more explored territory – and above all less banned by governments.
The currency can be spent on Meta platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. It will certainly play an important role in the company’s metaverse
At the same time, Meta is also planning a second type of token, which can be assigned to users based on their contribution on social networks. For example, a particularly active user on a particular Facebook group can be rewarded with the token, which they can then use to unlock emojis or other tools to personalize their profile.
Meta prefers to maintain the utmost confidentiality for the time being. “We have no news to share with you,” a Meta spokesperson said in response to requests for clarification from US journalists. “Meta is constantly looking for new innovative products to present to people, companies and content creators. As a company, we have worked on the construction of a metaverseand this certainly includes the creation of payment products and services ».
The bankruptcy of Libra
Three years ago, in 2019, Facebook had revealed Scalethe project to create a cryptocurrency specially designed for emerging economies – and in particular for those countries where only a small minority of the population has a current account.
The project would be developed by a consortium, the Libra Foundation, in which several leading companies initially participated: from Vodafone to Visa, via eBay, PayPal, Uber and Iliad. Nothing came of it.
In the days immediately following the announcement, political hostility had reached unsustainable levels. “It is an attack on the monetary sovereignty of nations,” the French finance minister said at the time. Similar insults also came from the rest of the EU, from some US politicians and from Japan.
The Libra Foundation soon lost most of its major founders. PayPal gave up after just three months. After several years of silence from Facebook and the Libra Foundation, Bloomberg announced in January 2022 that the Libra project – now renamed ‘Diem’ – was permanently dead.
It seems that Meta has not completely lost interest in cryptocurrencies and, more broadly, in blockchain technology. This time, the tech giant’s enthusiasm is focused on the NFTi digital collectibles issued with the same technology as cryptocurrencies. As has been shown in the past – and confirmed by the most recent FT report – Meta is working on a way to introduce NFTs on Instagram and Facebook, following in the footsteps of Twitter.
According to the Financial Times, Meta will begin experimenting with NFTs in public in mid-May, when the company must allow the creation of Facebook groups devoted to NFTs (in an effort to compete with Discord), perhaps also minting collectibles. thanks to a platform integrated with its social networks.
Source: Lega Nerd
