If 2018 was the year of “weeding out” frivolous projects and empty promises in the cryptocurrency world, 2019 is the year of institutional entrance into crypto. So far, the year has seen the entrance of several major players into the cryptocurrency industry–last month, JP Morgan announced the launch of “JPM Coin.” However, the cryptocurrency will be used only inside of the bank–the outside world won’t have any direct access to it.
However, Facebook users will likely have more direct interactions with the social media giant’s own cryptocurrency, which was revealed around the turn of the year. Facebook’s crypto is set to launch this year.
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It is said that Facebook’s cryptocurrency will be used in tandem with WhatsApp, the encrypted messaging platform that the company owns. A report from the New York Times reported that “the company is working on a coin that users of WhatsApp, which Facebook owns, could send to friends and family instantly.”
However, it’s important to note that Facebook itself still hasn’t come out and said exactly how its cryptocurrency will work and what it will be used for. The New York Times’ information came from “five people briefed on the effort who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of confidentiality agreements.”
Indeed, despite the hype around Facebook’s cryptocurrency, the details of the project are still largely unknown.
Here’s what we do know about the project so far, and what it could mean for the global crypto, data, forex, and remittance industries.
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“The news of Facebook launching their own cryptocurrency has been spreading fast, but at this point it’s still mostly all unconfirmed,” wrote Mark Moss, Founder and Market Analyst at Market Disruptors and Signal Profits, in an email to Finance Magnates. “We have seen a few high-level news sources run with stories but they have unconfirmed sources.”
However, Moss did point out that “we have seen Facebook making big moves recently – acquiring some high-level industry insiders to help run the operation as well as a reported 50 or more blockchain developers.”
While no one is going to stop #Facebook from launching any #cryptocurrency they like, the fact that #crypto will reach to over 2bn people through social messaging makes me bullish on coins that are
a) high-quality
b) while well suited for #Memes ?$TRTL #TurtleCoin onwards! ? pic.twitter.com/1t4fQOoxUR— TurtlesHill ? (@TurtlesHill) March 1, 2019
However, Facebook (or any similar system) will need to work out how its coin will be exchanged back into fiat currency in each given country before it can really act as a global vehicle for remittances and exchange.
Sandeep Todi, cofounder of remittances company REMITR, told Finance Magnates that, for example, “No bank in India will support conversions from crypto. Payments into India in INR need to be done using a special account called RDA (Rupee Drawing Account), which can only be opened with a Tier 1 bank (which in turn does not fancy working with crypto companies).”
Indeed, the details of Facebook’s currency still need to be fixed. However–if Facebook’s cryptocurrency manages to gain enough users, the world could change as a result.
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