Ever since Bitcoin exploded into popularity, cryptocurrency has proven itself a mainstay of our internet 3.0 world. Back in December, Bloomberg News reported Facebook was working on a digital coin of their own via WhatsApp. How serious are they about the project? Enough that they’re seeking to raise as much as $1 billion dollars to see it through, reports the New York Times. Here’s everything we know so far:
Project Libra
Facebook has had its eye on their own cryptocurrency for more than a year now, and is navigating through the footsteps of other tech giants like Amazon and Apple. Apple announced the new Apple Card back in March, also seeking to change and improve the digital transaction game. The goal of Facebook’s code-named Project Libra is to create a digital coin that Facebook users can use to make purchases on the social media site, as well as anywhere else across the internet.
The process is an arduous one, but would be a huge step for Facebook, utilizing investments from financial firms and online merchants. Additionally, there’s the project’s promising potential to reward users for their activity on the platform. “Like many other companies, Facebook is exploring ways to leverage the power of blockchain technology,” a Facebook spokesperson explained in an email.
User rewards
Rewarding users for viewing ads is a growing trend (the Brave browser’s Basic Attention Token seeks to do this as well), and it works similarly to accruing loyalty points at your chosen retailer – eventually those digital points can be put towards user rewards, such as improved ad targeting, or even access to premium content.
While inclusion of this facet is still speculation, it certainly meshes well with the user-publisher relationship that Facebook claims to encourage. It would be a welcome change from the flame wars, hate speech, political rants, and bot-created garbage that’s weighing more and more on the increasingly disgruntled Facebook community. It may even waive some of the condemnation that the organization has received of late for making money by invading user privacy.
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How much does Facebook know?Progress and impact
As you might expect, Libra’s progress has been slow-going thus far. The cryptocurrency system that currently exists is beset by roadblocks both technological and political, with entrenched interests and stubborn affiliates refusing to budge. Despite its tumultuous 2018, Facebook is still trying to brave the waters of a new business outlet – one that, if successful, could threaten the card networks’ dominance over global payments, and arm 1.5 billion users with a new tool to use in online commerce.
Will Project Libra usher in a new mainstream application of cryptocurrency, and dethrone the traditional online payment system? A third of the world’s population logs on to Facebook monthly, and we all need to buy things. Is that enough? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and stay tuned for more details as they are made available.