Just in: Facebook is seeking partners to build a crypto-based payment system

Facebook, involvement in the cryptocurrency industry has been confirmed. The company, is said to be seeking partners with whom it will develop a crypto-based payment system for e-commerce merchants around the world. Among the partners being sort after are financial firms according to the Wall Street Journal.

The social media giant has already approached firms like Visa and MasterCard for the project dubbed “Project Libra’. The project includes the creation of US dollar pegged stablecoin which is likely to be used on its various social platforms like WhatsApp and Messenger. Apart from being used to pay for services, the stablecoin will also be used to reward users for viewing adds.

In addition to that, Facebook is planning on onboarding e-commerce firms as well as applications. The e-commerce platforms will be required to accept the coin as a payment system. To make this a reality, Facebook has in the last several months been hiring blockchain developers and acquiring crypto-based startups. According to CryptoGlobe:

“To support its stablecoin-based payments network, Facebook is said to be looking for up to $1 billion in investments as collateral. Analysts have estimated Facebook could bring in as much as $19 billion until 2021 thanks to the launch of a cryptocurrency.”