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Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd
Facebook is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency in early 2020, allowing users to make digital payments in a dozen countries.
The currency, dubbed GlobalCoin, would enable Facebook's 2.4 billion monthly users to change dollars and other international currencies into its digital coins. The coins could then be used to buy things on the internet and in shops and other outlets, or to transfer money without needing a bank account.
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and chief executive of Facebook, last month met the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, to discuss the plans, according to the BBC.
Cryptocurrency without the pseudonymity? I think it'll work fine if they make it as easy to use as PayPal - and their blockchain processes transactions quickly, even without billions of records on it. Maybe we'll even finally get real microtransactions.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by zocalo on Wednesday May 29 2019, @08:21AM
Of course, there are a lot of rubes out there, and I'm sure enough of them use FB to make this very much worth them doing, but I also think they've missed the boat a little. If this had come out before Cambridge Analytica when all the other cashless payment schemes were less established they'd have *really* cleaned up, but where things are now I think a lot more of their users are a least going to have some doubts rather than just diving in head first. They've also got to convince other merchants - especially the likes of Amazon, Apple, Google - to accept their coins, many of whom are working on similar lock-in schemes, are highly protective of their data, and might not be willing to share.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!