Facebook Is Developing a Cryptocurrency for WhatsApp Transfers, Report Says (bloomberg.com) 44
Facebook is working on making a cryptocurrency that will let users transfer money on its WhatsApp messaging app, focusing first on the remittances market in India, Bloomberg reports. From the report: The company is developing a stablecoin -- a type of digital currency pegged to the U.S. dollar -- to minimize volatility, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal plans. Facebook is far from releasing the coin, because it's still working on the strategy, including a plan for custody assets, or regular currencies that would be held to protect the value of the stablecoin, the people said.
Iran and North Korea (Score:2)
Yeah, this will last until the first news story hits about Facebook being used to launder money to Iran and North Korea. It doesn't matter if Facebook is legally responsible, the PR implications will cause their collective heads to spin.
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...or even worse, laundering money to Russia. Man, would that play well...
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It would only affect those left wing progtards who still think Russia is a real story.
Look you Russian Troll - I know it's damn cold in Moscow today which is likely slowing down your vodka-addled brain, but if you want your fake posts to at least appear credible you should stop posting as an Anonymous Coward.
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...or even worse, laundering money to Russia. Man, would that play well...
Don't worry, we already have a guy, and his family, for that...
Not distributed so why Crypto? (Score:3)
The point of crypto currency is to act as a distributed ledger without the need for a central authority. If you are using what's app to transmit a message then it is being 2-way authenticated by facebook and passing through facebook and even logged by facebook. Adding a transaction record would be nothing. SO facebook could just make it a check on the bank of facebook and be done with it. Or if being a bank is a problem then just call it "flooz" or "beans" or send a share of a T-bill mutual fund.
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... used to launder money to Iran and North Korea. It doesn't matter if Facebook is legally responsible, ...
In the US, they probably would be legally responsible -- for aiding terrorists, helping to evade sanctions, or some other technicality.
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Say what? (Score:2)
and what is stable and liquid if not the US dollar?
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Why would any sane person tie it to USD? That is faaaar from stable!
All a ‘stablecoin’ is, is digital scrip. Pegging it to the dollar gives it the ability to be used in blochian transfers while not being treated as a digital investment. Unlike the restricted-supply coins, it should be usable as currency.
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I thought MBS was seeing it live via Skype, not whatsapp, and isn't MS record audio and a screenshot of Skype every few seconds?!?
Re: Linden dollars (Score:2)
which reputable source gave the whatsapp connection? some call it cctv video.
Big pile of Nope on that one (Score:2, Insightful)
No way am I buying into BitBook or FaceChain or whatever they call it.
It also brings to mind a very serious question - do they intend to mine their currency using the browsers and apps of people on Facebook?
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These things aren't mined. Every crypto-coin created is is paid for with real currency, they put that money in say a money market fund or short term US treasuries and when demand dries up and the coin's value drops they cash those in and buy the coin back (essentially destroying it).
It's very similar to full reserve banking. Ignoring regulation you could do it with a centralized system more easily than cryptocurrency, but regulators are treating crypto with kid's gloves ... which is the big pull.
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Call it the Zuckerfund (Score:1)
Because Zuckerber'g's currency is information. He has it. Facebook is an elaborate identity theft scheme.
Absolutely not (Score:5, Funny)
Are they serious? After everything they've done?
Below is a list of things I would trust sooner than I would trust Facebook to be anywhere near anything as sensitive as a financial transaction:
-Tap water from Flint
-A rattlesnake with a "pet me" sign
-free drinks from Bill Cosby
-gas station sushi
-emails from Nigerian Princes
-A bigfoot sighting
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% of Income? (Score:1)