Facebook Financial head David Marcus says the social media giant sees room to incorporate non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in conjunction with the upcoming launch of its cryptocurrency wallet Novi. In a new interview with Bloomberg, Marcus explains the company’s broad and forward-thinking approach, and how it relates to the metaverse, the online universe of interconnected virtual […]
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“When you have a good crypto wallet like Novi will be, you also have to think about how to help consumers support NFTs,” Facebook’s David Marcus said.
As Facebook now finalizes the development of its proprietary cryptocurrency wallet, Novi, the social media giant could soon be supporting nonfungible tokens (NFT).
David Marcus, head of Facebook Financial and co-creator of Facebook-initiated cryptocurrency Diem, said Wednesday that the firm is “definitely looking” at possible ways to get involved in the NFT industry.
Facebook is considering multiple options to introduce NFT features, as it finds itself in a “really good position to do so,” Marcus said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “When you have a good crypto wallet like Novi will be, you also have to think about how to help consumers support NFTs,” he added.
Marcus said that the Novi crypto wallet is now “ready to launch” after a couple of years of development, but Facebook has decided to put its launch on hold until the firm gets approval from regulators to move forward with Diem. Facebook began work on the digital currency two years ago, initially under the name Libra. The social media giant would still consider launching Novi without Diem “as a last resort,” Marcus said, but he believes that both are necessary for Diem to be a success.
Related: Facebook’s David Marcus calls for 'fair shot' at crypto payments
Facebook released a white paper for its then-called Libra in June 2019, originally planning to peg the digital currency to several fiat currencies, including the United States dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen, the British pound and the Singapore dollar. Due to global regulatory pushback, the Libra Association has been struggling to launch its stablecoin ever since, eventually rebranding to the Diem Association and redesigning the digital currency to be pegged solely to the U.S. dollar and be regulated under the U.S. government.
Marcus shares his honest thoughts on the crypto market, as well as declaring that Novi is ready to launch.
In a newly published Medium piece titled "Good stablecoins, a protocol for money, and digital wallets: the formula to fix our broken payment system", Facebook’s crypto pioneer David Marcus shared his views on topics of economic inequality, regulatory challenges and Novi’s proposed stablecoin solution.
Marcus has spent the last couple of years building Diem’s crypto wallet Novi – a interoperable digital wallet designed to integrate with the Diem payment system. It is meant to enable individuals and businesses worldwide to transfer money with ease, revolutionizing the age-old financial payments system once and for all.
In the piece, Marcus cites the 1.7 billion individuals unbanked across the world, as well as the reported 62 million Americans not maximising their financial potential with their current banking provider, as primary reasons to innovate this sector.
Marcus showed continued bewilderment at the lack of urgency shown by regulatory bodies and policy makers in the capturing of cryptocurrency and blockchain’s seismic potential:
“Here at home in America, … our payments infrastructure is arguably the worst of any developed country in the world, and increasingly falling behind, while China is moving with determination and haste to build an infrastructure that will make the digital yuan a challenger to the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.”
Ripple’s executive chairman voiced a similar opinion last year, writing that the US is losing the “tech cold war” with China to control the “next-gen financial system.”
Back in 2019, Diem (rebranded from Libra), proposed to create a native cryptocurrency for usage across Facebook’s owned platforms of Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, and potentially rival the sovereignty of traditional fiat currencies like the US dollar.
This bold approach sparked outrage, prompting the team to quickly backtrack for further consideration of its business model. After various public back and forth over the past few years, Diem and Novi are now the two singular products set to launch in 2021.
Under Marcus’ vision, Novi remains keen to pursue the stablecoin method, believing that now is the optimal moment to combine an “underlying payments network that’s cheaper, faster, safer, interoperable and programmable” with an efficient crypto stablecoin.
“We’re a challenger in the payments industry, and we will offer free person-to-person payments domestically and internationally for people using the Novi wallet”, he claimed.
He also mentioned the need for Novi wallets to support NFTs, and noted that traditional contracts and titles would be replaced by smart contracts.
Related: The metaverse: Mark Zuckerberg’s Brave New World
Novi has reportedly “engaged in constructive consultations” with regulators and policy makers around the world, securing regulatory licenses or approvals with almost every US state.
On two occasions, Marcus wrote that despite well-documented trust issues surrounding Facebook’s data records, Novi deserves a “fair shot” in its financial ambition and that innovation should not be stifled, but rather embraced. Similar language was noted in his “benefit of the doubt” plea late last year.
In his concluding thoughts, Marcus shared his passionate belief that it would be “unreasonable to delay” the launch of the Novi wallet, though never revealed specific dates.
The notorious dogecoin has been moving northbound in value once again climbing more than 17% during the last 24 hours and 32% over the course of the week. Currently, across social media platforms like Twitter, Tiktok, and Facebook, the hashtag #dogecointo1dollar has been trending. Meanwhile, a number of other meme-based digital assets that leverage the […]
Mark Zuckerberg attempts to create his own metaverse that would result in ever more centralization, leading to a dystopian future.
If Facebook happened to be a human being, where would he/she/they currently be? Most likely in prison… for a very long time. The company’s transgressions are too numerous to list. But Facebook is not human; it’s a company, and a very profitable one, at that. In fact, it’s now one of the most profitable companies in the world. Facebook’s market capitalization has recently surpassed the $1 trillion mark.
When we think of Facebook — more specifically, Facebook Inc. — we tend to think of a social media platform that is somewhat dated. However, it is important to remember that this multiheaded hydra is a conglomerate that owns 78 different companies, including WhatsApp and Instagram. In other words, Facebook is much more than cat videos and conspiracy theories. Spearheaded by Mark Zuckerberg, a champion of smoked meats, Facebook Inc. is a well-oiled machine. Its power is undeniable, and this power is growing. As Fortune magazine recently noted:
“Facebook, it appears, can’t be hurt — not by major ad buyers boycotting its service, not by state and federal investigations, and not even by a pandemic.”
The COVID-19 pandemic may have brought the world to its knees, but Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, hasn’t felt the effects. Last year, he had a measly net worth of $82 billion; today, it’s above $130 billion. Now, with Zuckerberg attempting to create his own metaverse, expect his value — and his power — to increase substantially.
Before discussing the metaverse, it’s important to ask one important question: What the hell is the metaverse, anyway? A blending of the words “meta,” which means beyond, and “universe,” the metaverse combines elements of the physical world and merges them with virtual spaces. American writer and author Neal Stephenson coined the term in 1992. Two decades later, no longer confined to the realms of sci-fi, the metaverse is almost upon us.
Related: Sci-fi or blockchain reality? The ’Ready Player One’ OASIS can be built
In this brave new world, the lines between physical reality and digital domains will become increasingly blurry. Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies are already part of the metaversal experience, but going forward, in the actual metaverse, they will be combined with you, the user. Although we currently live, communicate and shop on the internet, once the metaverse comes into existence, we very well live our lives in the internet. Elon Musk wants to transport us to Mars, but Zuckerberg wants to transport us to, and place us in, the internet. Literally.
Related: The convergence between Tesla, SpaceX, renewable energy and Bitcoin mining
In a recent interview to The Verge, Zuckerberg described the metaverse as an “embodied internet, where instead of just viewing content — you are in it.” We will be tenants in Zuckerberg’s ever-expanding house. Rent will be paid in the form of data. This is not a comforting thought. As Wired’s Toby Tremayne noted, Big Tech firms like Facebook have “become walled gardens increasingly centralised and controlled by corporate interests.” Facebook already “owns WhatsApp, Instagram and Oculus,” which gives “them ownership of our friends, our behaviour, our gait, eye movement and emotional state.” Soon, if Zuckerberg has his way, Facebook Inc. will have even greater control over our lives. That, I argue, should comfort no one but Zuckerberg.
To access the metaverse, biometric data will be required. Eye scans, voice recordings, pulse rates, etc. All of this information will be collected by Facebook Inc. What will be done with this data? Considering Facebook has a sordid history of violating users’ data, this is an important question to ask. What laws, if any, will apply in the metaverse? If my avatar steals an asset, such as digital artwork, from another user, will I be punished? What happens if I live in Canada but my victim lives in Cambodia? If you think the world of crypto has its issues with crime, and it does, imagine the problems that the metaverse will present us with. Think Grand Theft Auto mixed with real-life scenes from Haiti or South Africa. Can we trust Facebook to police the metaverse? Of course not. Then again, who can we trust to police the unknown? World governments? Please.
Related: The data economy is a dystopian nightmare
For this piece, I reached out to Matthew Ball, a metaversal mystic of sorts. A venture capitalist, futurist and Silicon Valley-veteran rolled into one, Ball told me:
“The very premise of the metaverse means that more of our lives will be online, rather than just data relating to our lives.”
As for our economies, they “will run virtually rather than just be augmented digitally (i.e. via email, ecommerce, etc.).” Relocating to the metaverse, Ball warned, will intensify “many present-day risks, such as those of misinformation, data security, data rights (i.e. portability, right to be forgotten, disclosures), as well as the risks of platform control (e.g. Apple’s ownership of app standards, app distribution, app billing).” What we are witnessing is a digital evolution of sorts. The internet has changed the way we bring information, provide services and experiences online, but the metaverse — through goggles, headsets and haptic sensors — will revolutionize what it means to be human. Essentially, the metaverse will take us somewhere completely unknown. The question we must ask now, though, is: Should Facebook be the company to take us there, wherever there may be?
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
CoinDCX's Series C funding was led by B Capital Group, a VC from Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin.
Mumbai-based crypto exchange CoinDCX has raised $90 million in a Series C funding, becoming the first crypto business in India to reach unicorn status.
According to the announcement, the funding round was led by B Capital Group and saw participation from returning investors including Block.one, Coinbase Ventures, Polychain and Jump Capital.
Following the investment round, CoinDCX reached a valuation of $1.1 billion, placing the company with crypto giants such as Binance and Ripple. ConDCX CEO Sumit Gupta said the firm will use the newfunds on business initiatives, adding:
“We will be joining hands or enter into partnerships with key fintech players to expand the crypto investor base, set up a Research & Development (R&D) facility, strengthening the policy conversations through public discourse, working with the government to introduce favorable regulations, education, and amping up the hiring initiatives.”
Since 2018, the crypto exchange has managed to onboard more than 3.5 million Indians while the company intends to use the latest round of funding in fast-tracking their onboarding process to up to 50 million users across the country.
Governments across the globe have started experimenting with crypto and blockchain implementations at different levels.
The Indian government has remained unclear about its stance on crypto and CoinDCX’s move onto the unicorn list has not yet come under the radar of the regulators.
Related: Indian startup organization proposes regulatory framework for crypto
While India’s noncommittal stance keeps local crypto businesses wary, an independent technology association, IndiaTech.org, has recommended a regulatory framework for handling crypto assets and exchanges.
The proposal recommended Indian authorities to “define cryptocurrencies as digital assets and not currencies and grant them recognition as digital assets like gold, stocks, or marketable securities.” CoinDCX’s Gupta also showed support for IndiaTech, stating:
“It helps bring a fresh perspective to the regulatory discussions that are going on today. The recommendations if accepted will open immense potential for Indians to participate in this new global asset class.”
India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently showed support for the crypto economy as she said that the regulators would prefer to allow certain windows for crypto use cases instead of going for an outright ban.
Pontem founder Boris Povod said the partnership was aimed at improving Polkadot’s current node infrastructure, with Pinknode providing “reliable and secure API endpoints.”
The decentralized application aiming to connect Facebook’s Diem blockchain with public networks is partnering with node infrastructure provider Pinknode.
In a Friday announcement, the Pontem Network said it would be working with Pinknode to provide node infrastructure through the Polkadot ecosystem. The network is aimed at allowing developers to use a Polkadot parachain as a testing ground for their ideas before submitting them to the Diem blockchain.
According to Pontem founder Boris Povod, the partnership will help improve Polkadot’s current infrastructure as Pinknode provides “reliable and secure API endpoints.” The network added that Pinknode’s code would allow Polkadot developers to connect their dApps through Kusama, while Pontem and Pinknodes teams could provide "critical infrastructure for Web 3.0 purposes."
Related: Polkadot launches DeFi alliance with Chainlink and will let 1000 nodes bloom
Last month, Pontem raised $4.5 million in seed investments for the project to allow interoperable features developed in its ecosystem to be accessible through the Diem blockchain. The project also recently hired new staff, including former BlockFi employee Alejo Pinto for the role of chief growth officer.
Many reports have stated that the Facebook-backed project is planning to launch its Diem stablecoin pilot program sometime in 2021. The project was first introduced by Facebook in 2019 as Libra, but quickly faced backlash from international regulators. It was rebranded to Diem the following year.
