Social media giant Facebook appears to be quickening its pace on its cryptocurrency ventures.
These insights come from the New York Times, from journalists Nathaniel Popper and Mike Isaac, who have shared reported recently that Facebook's cryptocurrency development has reached a stage where major discussions with exchanges have taken place. cryptocurrency exchanges about offering the Facebook digital currency to the public.
Such steps indicate that Facebook feels confident enough in the progress of its digital coin to start laying the groundwork for a public release. Reportedly, the coin could debut in the early part of the year.
The first whispers about Facebook's cryptocurrency ambitions emerged in December 2018, with Bloomberg hinting at a trial involving a stablecoin among Indian users on WhatsApp to facilitate remittances.
However, a new piece from the NYT provides fresh perspectives on this project, revealing that its developers are eyeing a more complex 'basketcoin' approach, one stablecoin which would be anchored to a diverse set of assets, unlike the traditional stablecoin tied to a single currency like the US dollar.
Insider sources with knowledge of Facebook’s intentions have indicated that a basketcoin pegged to multiple fiat currencies is on the cards. Specific target currencies are yet to be confirmed, but there's talk about the dollar, the euro, and the yen being top contenders.
March of the Basketcoin?
However, discussions around 'basketcoins' aren't entirely new to the cryptocurrency community.
Last fall, Swiss commodities the Tiberius fund announced plans to craft the Tiberius Coin, a basketcoin to be tied to varying metal prices. This coin aims to cover metals like aluminium, cobalt, copper, gold, nickel, platinum, and tin in its 'basket'.
Yet, should Facebook's cryptocurrency move beyond the drawing board and see the light of day, it could easily become the most prominent and headline-catching basketcoin the crypto world has ever seen.
It's anticipated that this digital currency, if expanded beyond India, may stand out as one of the most impactful stablecoins globally, thanks to Facebook's immense user base, which numbered over two billion active monthly users in late 2018.
Thinking About What Comes Next
The intricate details of this new digital asset remain under wraps, with NYT noting that Facebook is taking rigorous measures to ensure secrecy, including separate access controls for the project team.
Interestingly, Facebook dispelled rumors last August about potential collaborations with Stellar, a competitor to Ripple supporting the lumens (XLM) cryptocurrency, amidst speculation of their interest in leveraging Stellar's blockchain.
Hints abound that Facebook might not just stop at creating a stablecoin, but could explore bigger cryptoeconomic avenues. This month, Facebook hired the company brought on board four smart contract specialists from Chainspace, a startup focused on developing an expansive smart contract platform. With such talent, Facebook could potentially build a blockchain that goes beyond the concept of a basketcoin.
Moreover, it seems the upper echelons of Facebook’s hierarchy are exploring how blockchain could be applied to broader areas beyond payments.
This month, Facebook’s co-founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, mentioned the company's interest in using blockchain technology to facilitate distributed logins throughout the brand’s ecosystem.
\"store personal information in a decentralized fashion, granting users autonomy over access, bypassing traditional intermediaries,\" he explained.
