Cryptocurrency is all the rage, with many giants like Facebook and Telegram now gearing up to launch their own coins and tokens. The main use case for these coins is that users should be able to send money to their contacts within these platforms. Facebook is currently working on a coin that will enable users to send money to friends and family via Whatsapp, which is owned by Facebook. The social media platform is already in talks with a few cryptocurrency exchanges in order to facilitate the use of these coins.
One of the reasons why these companies believe that they will succeed in an arena that many others have failed in is because they have a reach that cannot be matched by any other crypto company. So, on paper, they already have a wide network of consumers that will use the currency. This form of payment has proven to be quite popular amongst users. In China, many people use WeChat to facilitate payments while users in the US use Venmo, which also facilitates payments via phone.
With huge companies like Facebook, Telegram and Signal gearing up to launch this offering, there will surely be tough competition in this space. According to the founder of Primitive Ventures, Eric Meltzer, this is definitely a pretty exciting time for these companies. He said “It’s pretty much the most fascinating thing happening in crypto right now. They each have their own advantage in this battle, and it will be insane to watch it go down.”
Facebook has not spoken about its coin yet as it is still under wraps. Telegram had received a huge funding worth 1.7 Billion USD the previous year in order to fund their crypto project. This made Facebook realize that it needs to get in the game too. Their project is headed by David Marcus, who was the former president of PayPal. Furthermore, Facebook is also looking at many new ways to incorporate blockchain technology in its processes.
A few hurdles that these giants may face are the rules and regulations which vary from country to country. Moreover, most consumers will value a stable currency with a set value far more than a currency whose value fluctuates daily. Achieving that might be a challenge. Facebook is planning to hitch its wagon to multiple currencies, instead of just the dollar to help offer different benefits to their consumers.
In similar news, Telegram has already sent emails to its investors talking about how it has completed 90% of this project and is nearing its launch date. Their coin will be called Gram, and so far, not much information is available regarding it.
Signal, another big player looking to enter this space, received a funding of 30 Million USD and is developing a coin known as MobileCoin. The three companies will definitely be at loggerheads, even if the applications of their coins differ. Currently, Signal is trying to raise another funding worth 30 Million USD to make its coin a reality.
