Facebook Set To Launch Its Cryptocurrency in June, Expected To Shift Control To Outside Backers

Behemoth social networking platform Facebook will be reportedly launching its digital currency later this month. The company will give employees working on the project to take the digital coin as their salary. The token will work as a borderless currency and will be heavily promoted in developing nations, where fiat currencies are largely volatile in nature.

Talks of Facebook working on a cryptocurrency began last year when the largest social media platform roped in former PayPal executive David Marcus. He was reportedly hired to explore opportunities in the blockchain space for the company. The company will be making the trade of the token available via its ecosystem apps, including Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp.

Facebook has had some hard times with its privacy and advertisement policies, especially after the Cambridge Analytica debacle. The debacle gave a pushed to the company’s already strong efforts to find income opportunities other than advertisements, which currently account for almost all revenues. This led to the company creating a digital token, which it will use to facilitate cross-border payments for its over two billion user base.

The company will allow users to send and receive money to all countries; it has a presence in, and it will charge a small fee for the service. Given its humongous user base across the three main platforms, Facebook App, Messenger, and WhatsApp, revenues generated could be substantial, even by its own standards.

However, there’s one big problem that could ruin its plans, and the company itself has identified it. And that’s trust issues its faces from customers. After the questionable privacy policies came to light, there was a huge outrage on the platform, and many celebrities deleted their accounts in protest of Facebook’s policies. All of this means that there is a lack of trust and belief in the company, which can impact the cryptocurrency’s adoption.

To tackle this, Facebook has come up with a unique solution, that could reinstate trust among users. The company is expected to hand over the control to a third party, which is likely to be an outside backer. This might reassure users that the digital currency, which most probably will be a stablecoin, will be free of any manipulations.