Cryptocurrency
Blow To Bitcoin As Mark Zuckerberg Warns Facebook Payments Are Coming via @forbes
As reported by Forbes, “Bitcoin, which has recently attracted the attention of some of the world’s biggest technology entrepreneurs, is likely to soon get a major competitor: Mark Zuckerberg’s social networking giant Facebook. “Facebook, which was last week revealed to be working on its own cryptocurrency to rival bitcoin for the Facebook-owned WhatsApp messaging app, is […]
As reported by Forbes, “Bitcoin, which has recently attracted the attention of some of the world’s biggest technology entrepreneurs, is likely to soon get a major competitor: Mark Zuckerberg’s social networking giant Facebook.
“Facebook, which was last week revealed to be working on its own cryptocurrency to rival bitcoin for the Facebook-owned WhatsApp messaging app, is trying to figure out how it can reposition itself in what Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg called a ‘privacy-focused’ future that will likely weigh on his company’s bottom line.
“In a world where Facebook is not as willing to trade people’s private information for ever-more targetted ads, facilitating bitcoin-like payments could be a way for the teenage company, which still considers itself a start-up despite its near $500 billion market capitalization, to keep its revenue growing.
“Facebook, which has already had some negative experiences of bitcoin, makes money on its social network by selling advertisements and in January this year posted a record profit of $6.88 billion for the final three months of 2018, compared with $4.27 billion the year before, with revenue rising 30% to $16.64 billion.
“Meanwhile, daily active users and monthly active users of Facebook grew by 9% year-on-year with the company estimating it has two billion daily active users across Facebook, image-focused Instagram, and chat apps Messenger and WhatsApp…
“…Some expect the likes of retail behemoth Amazon could spark the next bitcoin bull run if it chooses to integrate bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies on its platform, however, recent developments suggest tech companies are more inclined to build their own private cryptocurrencies, similar to J.P. Morgan’s recently unveiled digital token, than adopt existing ones that are harder to profit from and control.”