Meta may have given up on Diem cryptocurrency, but it’s still exploring financial products, according to a new Financial Times report. The parent company of Facebook and Instagram has a unit working for the virtual currency, and they’re apparently working on a few different options, including what they’re starting to call “Zuck Bucks.”
Zuck Bucks, named after Mark Zuckerberg, founder, chairman and CEO of Meta, is unlikely to be a cryptocurrency. “Instead, Meta is moving towards introducing in-app tokens that will be centrally controlled by the company, similar to those used in gaming apps like the Robux currency in the popular children’s game Roblox,” the FT said. Roblox has built a big business selling Robux and Meta may want to implement some of that success on their platform.
Also, we can say that Meta, which continues to publish and share NFTs on Facebook, has not completely moved away from blockchain products. The FT says the company plans to launch a pilot for this purpose in mid-May, according to a statement, and will soon test another permissions effort to convert NFTs and membership of Facebook groups based on NFT ownership. The FT previously reported on some of Meta’s NFT plans for Facebook and Instagram in January, and Zuckerberg announced in March that NFTs would come to Instagram.
Alongside these, Meta also examines “social tokens” or “reputation tokens” that can be awarded, for example, to Facebook groups for meaningful contributions. Traditional financial services such as small business loans are also said to be on the company’s research list…
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