Citing people familiar with the matter, a report by Bloomberg is claiming that Facebook is developing a new cryptocurrency that will allow WhatsApp users to transfer money, especially targeting the remittances market in India. The sources added that the company is developing a ‘Stablecoin’, a type of digital currency pegged to the U.S. dollar.
The report, however, says the coin is still far from release as the social networking giant is 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.
With over 200 million users, WhatsApp is particularly popular in India, a country which leads the world in remittances. According to the World Bank, people sent over $69 billion home to India in 2017. The country also has 480 million internet users, second only to China.
“Like many other companies, Facebook is exploring ways to leverage the power of blockchain technology,” a company spokesman said in a statement. “This new small team is exploring many different applications. We don’t have anything further to share.
The past year has seen a boom in crypto projects related to stablecoins. At one point, there were more than 120 ventures related to this theme, according to Stable.Report, a website that tracks stable tokens. The concept was created to create a digital coin that would be far easier to use on daily purchases because it would be more stable than currencies like Bitcoin.
It is believed that Facebook, which has 2.5 billion global users and over $40 billion in annual revenue, may have a better chance of making a Stablecoin that actually sticks.
