It seems there’s no stopping Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg from launching his own currency. After what many consider the fall of his cryptocurrency project Diem Association, the tech giant is reportedly working on a decentralized currency for the metaverse.
Internally, company employees are calling it “Zuck bucks”.
In a Financial Times article, Meta Financial Technologies — Facebook’s financial arm — is said to have been exploring a virtual currency to exist within the metaverse. Unlikely to be crypto-based, the digital financial system would likely be patterned after in-app tokens similar to what’s being used in popular gaming apps.
According to internal communications, Meta plans to initiate this with “social tokens” to reward valuable contributions by platform users, as well as “creator tokens” for high-clout users, similar to what YouTube and TikTok have on their respective platforms.
In Zuckerberg’s quest to make a fake currency a reality, is the third time the charm? Diem itself rose from the fall of its predecessor Libra, the cryptocurrency effort aimed to introduce stable digital currencies. However, the announcement faced scrutiny from regulators and legislators, ending up with Zuckerberg being called to testify in a US Congress hearing.
Currently, Facebook has Pay, a digital wallet for user-to-user transactions while Whatsapp has its crypto wallet Novi, on which the platform has piloted transferring stablecoin Pax Dollars through chat messages.
Zuck bucks is also not a new term. It has been used by critics of Zuckerberg related to the funds invested by the Meta CEO into non-government organizations that allegedly influenced the results of the 2020 US elections.
Information for this briefing was found via Financial Times. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
