The report claims that Facebook had started to study blockchain about a year ago. This seems to line up with an earlier report that claims that Facebook had set up its own blockchain division, which now seems to be leading towards Facebook’s plans to launch their own cryptocurrency in the future.
In a statement made to Cheddar regarding their report, a Facebook spokesperson was quoted as saying, “Like many other companies Facebook is exploring ways to leverage the power of blockchain technology. This new small team will be exploring many different applications. We don’t have anything further to share.”
That being said, Facebook did not seem to rule out the possibility of cryptocurrencies being part of their future. Speaking at a conference earlier this year, Facebook’s VP of Messenger David Marcus said, “Payments using crypto right now is just very expensive, super slow, so the various communities running the different blockchains and the different assets need to fix all the issues, and then when we get there someday, maybe we’ll do something.”