One of the major technology companies over the past decade may soon have its own cryptocurrency as well. However, it will be for a messaging app they own and focused on a specific country. Reportedly, Facebook is going to create a cryptocurrency specifically for WhatsApp users in India.

A Bloomberg report on Thursday (Dec. 20), brought the news of Facebook’s potential creation of a new cryptocurrency. Reportedly, they will focus on a token for use within the WhatsApp messaging service and it will be focused on India’s “remittance markets.”

Facebook purchased WhatsApp back in 2014 for a reported $19 billion in stock and cash. That came just two years after the company purchased the popular social media platform Instagram.

As far as their plans going forward, it appears that Facebook may develop a stablecoin, Bloomberg said, citing sources familiar with the matter. However, the timeframe for when that might arrive is unknown. This is due to the fact they are still in the early stages and determining a strategy for what asset(s) will be tied to the stablecoin.

As mentioned, the focus will be on India where the WhatsApp messaging service has widespread popularity. There are reportedly over 200 million Indian WhatsApp users, per Cointelegraph’s report. Reportedly, 2.8 percent of India’s GDP come from the remittances market, according to World Bank data.

At the height of the cryptocurrency market’s rise into all-time highs for Bitcoin and altcoins, Facebook put in place a ban on ads related to crypto. The company said it was to prevent “misleading or deceptive promotional practices” for financial products and services. That ban arrived in January of 2018.

Several months later in May, they announced they’d formed a blockchain exploratory team. The head of Facebook Messenger app David Marcus headed up this exploratory team. He was serving as one of the board members for the crypto wallet and exchange Coinbase but stepped down this past August to avoid any potential conflicts of interest.

As of this report, Facebook (FB) stock had reached a new 52-week low and was trading just over $125 per share. Meanwhile, after a recent run above $4,000 for Bitcoin (BTC), the cryptocurrency had fallen back under that level. As of this report, it doesn’t appear that Facebook plans to integrate BTC into their WhatsApp plans, but one never knows what the future holds for Blockchain technology.

Read More: https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/top-story/facebook-to-develop-cryptocurrency-for-whatsapp-users/story/303081.html

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