Facebook Is Moving Fast To Get Into Blockchain

Uploaded on 2019-02-27 in TECHNOLOGY-Key Areas-Blockchain, FREE TO VIEW, TECHNOLOGY--Developments, TECHNOLOGY-Key Areas-Social Media

Facebook is building its war chest for blockchain, from open hiring to acquiring top talent from the street. But recently news of the acquisition of blockchain start-up Chainspace took a lot of people by surprise as the social media giant was moving much faster than expected with blockchain.

Is acquisition the way for Facebook?

Since blockchain became prominent and people start recognising and realizing its advantage, a lot of mainstream tech companies turned towards this newest tech kid on the block. Facebook too took a lead here but it remained officially silent on most part of its plan with respect to the blockchain.

Although there have been several reports of the company hiring and recruiting blockchain developers not many had expected Facebook to take an acquisition route.

While the news is still fresh in the minds of people, a tech news website The Information has come out with a report stating that Chainspace is not the only startup  Facebook was talking to and its sources say that Facebook may be scouting a few more startups to fuel its blockchain dream.

Going to the article one thing stands out it that Facebook is acquiring these startup as a hiring mechanism or what they call it as “aqui-hire”.

The report states that One investor told The Information that Facebook had approached him multiple times about making an acquisition of a company from his portfolio as a way to hire engineering talent.  Another person familiar with the matter said Facebook was contemplating deals worth tens of millions of dollars.

According to the sources close to the company also mentioned that Facebook has had active conversations with a few more startups such as:

  • Algorand, a company founded by an MIT professor that is creating a scalable blockchain.
  • Basis, a stable coin startup that shut down in December after encountering regulatory issues
  • Keybase, an encrypted messaging app that supports Bitcoin and Zcash wallet addresses

While Facebook has always been in denial regarding any of these talks, Chainspace acquisition has just got the rumor mill rolling. As per the article, A few sources reported that Facebook has a conversation with Basis in December shortly after the company reported closure. There were reports of Keybase discussions towards the beginning of 2018

The names that spring up from these rumor mills actually gives insight on what’s going through the mind of decision-makers at Facebook. While Basis conversation could be linked to Facebook’s endeavors of creating a stablecoin in India, its conversation with Keybase could be of its desire to integrate its cryptocurrency into WhatsApp messaging

With respect Chainspace and Algorand, these could be answers to the company’s concerns about cryptocurrency networks’ ability to accommodate its billions of users, a problem whose answers are available with both these startups.

One thing is clear that out of all these news and rumors is Facebook is progressing with blockchain and the tech-giant’s presence is definitely a positive for the nascent blockchain industry.

CoinGape: 

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