Facebook Is Developing Its Own Digital Currency, StableCoin for WhatsApp

Facebook Inc. is working on making a cryptocurrency that will let users transfer money on its WhatsApp messaging app, focusing first on the remittances market in India.

Illustration by James Bareham | The Verge

The company is developing stablecoin - a type of digital currency pegged to the U.S. dollar - to minimize volatility, Insiders told Bloomberg.

According to the report, Facebook is far from releasing the coin, because it’s still working on the strategy, including a plan for custody assets, or regular currencies that would be held to protect the value of the stablecoin.

Facebook spokesperson in a statement said -

"Like many other companies, Facebook is exploring ways to leverage the power of blockchain technology," 

"This new small team is exploring many different applications. We don’t have anything further to share."

Facebook has long been expected to make a move in financial services, after hiring former PayPal president David Marcus to run its Messenger app in 2014.

In May, Marcus became the head of the company’s blockchain initiatives, which haven’t been discussed publicly in detail.

Facebook has been on a hiring spree, and now has about 40 people in its blockchain group, according to employee titles on LinkedIn.

WhatsApp, the company’s encrypted mobile-messaging app, is popular in India, with more than 200 million users. The country also leads the world in remittances -- people sent $69 billion home to India in 2017, the World Bank said this year.

The currency will reportedly be focused on India and allow Indian workers abroad send money back home, something that other Bitcoin startups have already been working to solve given the difficult and expensive process for international transfers, according to TheVerge.