With cryptocurrency gaining a glaring spotlight in the digital world, it is no wonder that Facebook’s parent company Meta has begun its exploration of the potential of digital money internally. Termed Zuck Bucks, based on the founder’s name, Mark Zuckerberg, the currency wants to become the next big thing in the cryptocurrency market.
However, this isn’t the first time Meta has tried to enter the cryptocurrency domain; their first efforts led to the abandoning of a global cryptocurrency, first called Libra, but eventually christened as Diem, owing to the backlash from the financial regulators around the world.
Zuck Bucks to follow a reward-as-token policy
However, now the Founder and Chief of Meta has talked about the importance of eCommerce and how he envisions an immersive online world called metaverse. Currently, the products being considered at Meta include digital tokens akin to those used for conducting transactions in online video games. This version has been named Zuck Bucks for those working on it. There is, of course, too much potential for tokens to be used as rewards by players. However, Meta is also considering its usage by creators and influencers when conversing with their online audiences.
As of now, Meta is looking to diversify its revenue channels beyond the legacy targeted advertising, which has led to some serious concerns around user privacy.
Meta planning a pilot test around NFTs
The report in the Financial Times cited that Meta is planning to launch a pilot for posting and sharing Non-Fungible Tokens on Facebook by mid-May. This will allow Meta users to test these tokens via membership of Facebook groups based on NFT ownership and another for minting NFTs. Zuckerberg announced in March 2022 that they’re planning to bring NFTs to Instagram as well. Moreover, the report said that Meta is exploring “social tokens” or “reputation tokens” as rewards for contributions to Facebook groups.
In a statement to The Verge, a Meta spokesperson said that the company has no update to share, but it continuously considers new product innovations for people, businesses, and creators. The spokesperson also stressed the company’s focus on building the metaverse. As users, all we can do is wait around to see what this ‘Zuck Bucks’ project is up to and if it is only an in-app currency or token, as predicted by the Financial Times report.
