Remember when we spoke about that whole idea of lying low for a while after making questionable decisions? For those that weren’t in attendance at that lecture, I’ll briefly summarize. Facebook (FB), the social media giant we’ve all come to know and hate after years of poking, friending, and, for a brief stint in 2008, farming, has come under significant scrutiny for a seemingly constant stream of privacy concerns. Almost every day a headline has popped up explaining that Facebook (FB) user data was once again breached by an anonymous hacker just trying to cope with a recent breakup.
Rather than bow out gracefully and let other tech companies catch some much-needed flack for their own data security issues, Facebook (FB) has released products like “Portal,” a smart tablet with a camera that may, or may not, be always watching your every move, as well as forayed into the uncharted territory of content creation with “Facebook Watch.” Following Facebook’s (FB) Portal announcement, naturally, people expressed concerns about what data was collected from the new device and, if relevant, what the company would be able to do with said data.
“Portal calls are powered by Messenger — as such we collect the same info as we do on other Messenger-enabled devices. This includes information about the quality of the call or to inform your call history, for example. We may access, preserve and share information in response to a legal request (like a search warrant, court order, or subpoena) if we have good faith belief that the law requires us to do so.”
–Statement from Facebook Spokesperson
Someone needs to head to Palo Alto and knock some sense into CEO Mark Zuckerberg before he does something stupid like try and use blockchain technology to build out…wait. What do you mean they did exactly that?
Yes, the rumors are indeed true. According to Bloomberg, Facebook (FB) is currently developing its own form of decentralized cryptocurrency “that will let users transfer money on its WhatsApp messaging app.” Getting more into the specifics of this project, the company is developing a stable coin, which is a form of a digital currency pegged, in value, to the U.S. dollar, which, allegedly, works to minimize the coin’s volatility. The use of blockchain technology to develop alternative forms of currency has a very real future, but the stability of the coin’s value, as we have seen with recent bitcoin activity, presents a very real concern.
Facebook (FB) commented on the recent buzz surrounding its new project, explaining that “like many other companies, Facebook (FB) is exploring ways to leverage the power of blockchain technology. This small new team is exploring many different applications. We don’t have anything further to share.”
Ignoring that suspicious line of reasoning, very few specific details are available in terms of what Facebook’s (FB) proposed stable coin will end up looking life, we can make an educated guess that the tech behemoth will utilize its new crypto department, replete with product managers, engineers, academics, and legal experts, totaling over 40 employees, to bring this project to fruition. To be perfectly honest, if Facebook (FB) ends up going through with their stable coin project, it will be incredibly easy for them to get the word out to their 2 billion user base. Back at the beginning of the year, when uncertainty surrounding the company was boundless and plentiful, Zuckerberg hinted that his company may foray into the world of cryptocurrencies.
“With the rise of a small number of big tech companies — and governments using technology to watch their citizens — many people now believe technology only centralizes power rather than decentralizes it. There are important counter-trends to this — like encryption and cryptocurrency — that take power from centralized systems and put it back into people’s hands.”
–Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Facebook
