Facebook-WhatsApp cryptocurrency could be reality soon and India could be the first market for it: Report

Social networking giant Facebook could be working on its own cryptocurrency to let users transfer money over UPI, reports Bloomberg.

This is not the first time we have heard anything about Facebook’s plan to introduce Blockchain-based cryptocurrency. Back in May 2018, Facebook named former PayPal president and then head of the Messenger app, David Marcus, as the head of its Blockchain research unit.

As per Bloomberg, the social networking giant now has close to 40 people as part of its Blockchain team.

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The report has it that Facebook’s crypto-token would be backed by traditional currency, such as the US dollar. That would curb rapid changes and unpredictability when it comes to its price, which is often a problem with cryptocurrencies. A number of Crypto-tokens pegged to the U.S. dollar have lately been gaining momentum.

Bloomberg report has it that the first market might be India, which could be ideal given the fact that back in 2017, people sent a $69 billion back home to India, which happens to the highest-ever worldwide.

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Apart from the potential business opportunity, no other information is currently known. Bloomberg report says that Facebook is still figuring out the overall strategy and is “far from releasing the coin.”