Facebook could be launching its own cryptocurrency in late June

Thus far, 2019 has been a good year for cryptocurrencies, as most of the major coins appreciated more than 100% compared to the lowest points recorded during the 2018 crash. Furthermore, many analysts expect this resurgence to bring a new parabolic rise, which would boost Bitcoin to prices even higher than those recorded by the end of 2017. A recent report from The Information unveiled that Facebook is almost ready to launch its own digital currency some time in late June, and it is no hard to see why the social media giant may have chosen this particular moment in the crypto market.

Rumors about Facebook’s intention to launch its own cryptocurrency dubbed GlobalCoin started circulating back in 2018 when the company hired former PayPal executive David Marcus to lead a blockchain research team. GlobalCoin is supposed to enable Facebook users to make faster payments for the items that are currently sold through the Facebook Marketplace, plus exchange fiat currency to crypto for essentially zero fees. Users should also be able to send and trade GlobaCoins through WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. In addition, the report mentions that Facebook intends to build physical ATMs where users can buy GlobalCoins in person, and employees working on the project may request to be payed in GlobalCoin as soon as the currency is released.

The creation of a relevant blockchain-based ecosystem may also help Facebook strengthen its privacy policy, which has already been the subject of judiciary scrutiny in 2018. According to The Information, Facebook already started soliciting the help of third-party organizations that would act as nodes for cryptocurrency management. Apparently, in order to become such a node, organizations need to pay a “small fee” of US$10 million. In order to further legitimize the new digital currency, Facebook plans to create a foundation with named partners that will help manage all aspects of GlobalCoin, so it will not really be as decentralized as Bitcoin, for example.