Topic: Facebook Is Developing a Cryptocurrency for WhatsApp Transfers, Sources Say - page 3. (Read 747 times)

just another case of the widespread hype of cryptocurrencies that is infecting everyone from small time newbie investors to big corporations worth billions of dollars. everyone looks at the numbers that showed up in 2017 and look at market cap,... and they all want a piece of the action.
being open source and under MIT license has made it easy for these big corporations to take advantage of other people's work for their own purposes.
for at least another 10 years we will continue seeing a lot of crap coins be created every day until eventually the market purges itself and we are left with only a handful of useful cryptocurrencies.

I may need to agree with you as OP is not providing any link for source/reference. But, why not a new thing for whatsapp users beyond the features of facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg  must have been well aware of cryptos as his 'old friends' Winklevoss twins are icons in crypto world. It is time for facebook corp to react as googlepay and applepay are emerging, hence to stay competitive,  they may go for this kind of things.

But, what are impacts it is going to create in crypto space or in bitcoin ecosystem. Nothing negatively, I am sure. Why ? It will be another altcoins but it may get quickly adopted by common people due to the popularity of facebook/whatsapp. But, it may not have value outside whatsapp or at least out side facebook's products. People still need bitcoins.

Moreover I believe, a new crypto from any market giant will help bitcoin to be promoted indirectly as bitcoin is not a purpose specific money whereas all altcoins are.  

Apparently many people believe in projects like this one. I cant find thread I saw couple days ago, there is even a picture, about investing in tether, like it has chance to grow. How crazy people are can be seen on this forum very often.
I dont even wish to comment topics about facebook and cryptocurrencies, who cares about them anymore? Like you say even if they make one it will be facebook token, and some people know what facebook stands for. Now we have some nice decentralized social platforms, why not to try them and in same time earn something from that.

These dollar tokens would - be centralised, tied to the dollar, reversible, blockable, seizable, and probably require a bank to actually spend outside their services.

I can't believe anyone registered here believes projects like this are in any way comparable. Just like centralbankcoin, they'll make the case for real crypto even more compelling.

Is this information  now confirm that facebook is indeed reating thier own cryptoccoin?

Some articles  I've read was that it says they are only ccreating stablecoin. Either of it,  its  still a good  indicator for invvestorss who  are looking a far of what wil  happen in the future. Blockchain is going ot be adopted no matter what.

I also use signal to message privately with other crypto users i know.
I use whatsapp only for work related stuff as its the most popular
messenger so when someone wants to send info to me its
"Are you in whatsapp" facebook knew what they were doing when
they bought it!


I doubt facebook would do much in relation to their users safety,
This move would be for facebooks benefit.

I doubt this is true. Facebook wouldn’t do such a thing, they don’t need cryptocurrency cause they wouldn’t consider it safe for their platforms users.

People can already send and receive money with Facebook, there is a feature to send and receive money in the Messenger app. If they want they will do the same for WhatsApp, but it won’t be anything to do with cryptocurrencies, these medias are fond of carrying fake news.

I think this is the original article, from Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-21/facebook-is-said-to-develop-stablecoin-for-whatsapp-transfers


I checked Paypal's site and it depends how much you're sending. If you send $500 via bank transfer, it costs a $5 fee + ~ 1% currency conversion fee. If you send $2,000 via bank transfer, it's free to send and the currency conversion costs closer to 0.5%.

The less you send, the more expensive. For people remitting $100, they're paying a 6% fee and that's before currency conversion. I'm sure the costs are different for different countries.

One thing to consider is what happens when Paypal bans your account. That's where decentralized platforms shine. I don't know if Facebook's stablecoin will be built on a something like Bitcoin/Ethereum or if it's something more centralized.

Whether he introduces it or not... we don't really care anymore. These social media platforms really acted like bitches last time out when they decided to ban cryptocurrency ads on their platforms.

It is very likely, and it will be the end of the crypto as we know it: it will create Facebookcoin, Amazoncoin, Googlecoin, and will be advertised as "real" and "safe" crypto coins, and people will not understand that they are not decentralized. What a pity...

You bet. Same with any other of these big companies looking at getting involved in crypto - Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, etc. You can absolutely bet that all your transactions and purchases will be used to build a profile of your spending habits and purchases which will be used to target you with ads and other products, as well as sold off to 3rd parties and potentially even governments to use for tax reasons.

I also have concerns with these big companies even when their intentions seem good. For example, the new HTC phone which will have a built in wallet and potentially also be able to run a node. I would be very surprised if their code for this is open source, and you can almost guarantee they will be tracking your transactions.

Hydrogen, am I missing the source of that quote or what?  Where did it come from?

Anyway, I just learned more about stablecoins than I knew before, so this was an interesting article.  Since I'm not that familiar with them (but I understand the concept), I'm wondering why sending a Facebook coin would be more convenient than just using something like PayPal or a similar service.  I think even Indians working overseas can send funds back to India via PP friends & family for no charge.  The article doesn't exactly say that there's a problem that crypto in general is needed to solve, much less that an unproven, untested, not-yet-developed stablecoin is going to solve.  Are Indians finding it difficult to send money back home? 

I also understand the need for a currency to be stable in order for it to be viable, but I'm not seeing the general public crying out for an alternative to fiat--except in places like Venezuela, but the best solution there would be to use the Peso or USD as currency until the hyperinflation situation resolves.  There are still transaction fees with crypto, plus you have to go out of your way to acquire it...with cash, which, if you have it, means there isn't a problem in the first place.

Same here.  I don't use FB, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media service, specifically because of the privacy concerns.  And I agree that FB will find a way to exploit the users of its stablecoin if it ever gets off the ground.

I mean, not only to people not care their data is being leaked, hacked and sold, but they are quite happy to give increasing amount of personal data away for free. It's not just Facebook/Google/Apple knowing your name, email, phone number, address, job, location (in real time), friends, schedule, etc. Although this is bad enough, and more than enough data to steal someone's identity or figure the optimum time to rob their house, people are now actively bringing surveillance devices in to their houses, and paying for the privilege, in the form of Amazon Alexa or Google Home or similar devices.

These devices record everything that is said (and in some cases record video 24/7 as well) and send it to some unknown database for storage. We have no idea what that data is being used for, but I would bet every satoshi I own that it is being analysed and sold to third parties. Talking a lot about feeling ill or unwell? I'm sure your health insurance company would be interested to know that. Talking about money worries? I'm sure anyone you are contacting about a loan would pay for that kind of information.

It absolutely boggles my mind that people are so willing to give away every intimate detail of their lives. The same could be said for half the users on this forum who send their KYC documents to some anonymous bounty campaign in exchanges for a few cents worth of the newest trash token.

I use Signal but unfortunately the only people I know who use it are people in the cannabis industry (or otherwise involved in black or grey market activity). It's incredible how egregious the privacy violations are with major social networking apps, but nobody seems to care. Most people I talk to have no interest in using Signal. Messenger still seems really popular.

It's not fake news, there are several reliable news outlets that are reporting the same news, like Bloomberg, for instance: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-21/facebook-is-said-to-develop-stablecoin-for-whatsapp-transfers

Since there's no doubt that this cryptocurrency will become the most used cryptocurrency in the world, I wonder if there's a chance that some people will get curious about other cryptos, I mean, I think in the long run people will want to find alternatives to this centralized cryptocurrency owned by a company that is known for invading its user's privacy, so perhaps this could help other cryptos like BTC reach a mainstream status (?).

It's not fake news. It's also not complete garbage because they can utilize it in so many ways, that it might even attract a whole new group of users they otherwise wouldn't be able to attract.

There is more to it than just the very obvious. Everything social media giants do is focused at increasing their user base, and I actually believe that they might succeed in doing so, especially if the marketing is done well.

I have seen that even a few local banks here are looking to launch tokens people can exchange for discounts on online purchases. Within 5 to 10 years probably every reputable site or service will have its own tokens.

There are many other open source and end-to-end encrypted instant messengers you can use, but I appreciate the problem is getting all your friends/colleagues/whoever to use them too.

Signal is the one I use. It is free, open source, and available for in android, iOS and desktop versions. It also supports voice, image, video and file sharing. There is also Wire which pretty much does the same things.

Agreed, but the majority won't. Even in the wake of all of Facebook's scandals they still see near record levels of traffic. I for one deleted facebook following all such events as I don't like the idea of someone manipulating my decisions in some way. I do still use whatsapp but it's almost a necessity and I feel that there's more safety in that.

I think that the facebook stocks are going down,because funds related to Soros are selling their FB stocks and causing market panic.This is just rumors,but I think it's this has some influence over the facebook stocks.
This idea about a fbcoin or a whatsappcoin is complete garbage and probably fake news.No need to comment such fake news.

I for one will continue to refuse to use anything that Facebook gets their grimy, privacy-invading hands on. Sure, this might be another example of blockchain technology going more mainstream, but you can absolutely guarantee that if you use this, your addresses and transactions will be added to Facebook's ever growing profile of information on you, and then sold to highest bidder with absolutely no regard for your privacy, anonymity or security.