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Cryptocurrency: Zuckerberg, Dimon, Maduro…You Are Not Welcome Here!

A tech billionaire, Wall Street's most-influential banking executive and the leader of a nation in its worst ever economic crisis all have a thing in common. | Source: Getty/Getty/Shutterstock
A tech billionaire, Wall Street's most-influential banking executive and the leader of a nation in its worst ever economic crisis all have a thing in common. | Source: Getty/Getty/Shutterstock

Facebook is the latest in a raft of corporate or government entities creating their own cryptocurrencies.

Within weeks of JPMorgan announcing its plans to launch the JPMorgan coin, sources leaked confirmation of the crypto landscape’s worst-kept secret–that the Zuckerberg blockchain team was working on a native cryptocurrency. The social network joins a dubious lineup of centrally controlled entities and despotic governments on the crypto bandwagon. It seems none of them noticed the “Not Welcome” sign on the door.

FACEBOOK’S BLOCKCHAIN AMBITIONS WIDELY KNOWN

Whether or not it was going to release its own coin, Facebook has been busy hiring engineers for its blockchain division since May, 2018. Led by David Marcus, formerly of Coinbase and PayPal, the blockchain division’s mission was kept under wraps even to other Facebook employees. But it bred speculation that the giant was planning on releasing a cryptocurrency.

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The plans were revealed a month after Zuckerberg unveiled greater user privacy in its roadmap, in an attempt to ward off antitrust regulators and revive its flagging reputation in the wake of various data breach scandals.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg may well be trying to paint a more user privacy respecting facade onto Facebook, but these moves have possibly come too late. The Menlo Park-based behemoth has suffered repeated blows to its reputation over the past year. A Facebook cryptocurrency is unlikely to be used or trusted by cryptocurrency veterans. And its ability to draw use from the general public is questionable given its trust problem.

THE JPMORGAN COIN, A PROJECT REVELING IN ITS OWN IRONY

Jamie Dimon, the long-term CEO of the American investment bank, has also been a long-term crypto skeptic. He once told reporters:

Read the full story on CCN.com.