Facebook is preparing a cryptocurrency for WhatsApp

Facebook is working on developing its own cryptocurrency to enable money transfers via the WhatsApp mobile app (which has been owned by Facebook since 2014).

According to Bloomberg , the company is working on a virtual currency indexed to the US dollar – called stablecoin  – to minimize the risk of volatility . However, this currency is far from ready for an official launch.

India in the crosshairs

At first, the electronic currency of Facebook will be for the Indian market, where WhatsApp has 200 million users. The India is the country that receives the most money in the form of transfers from abroad. Last year, people sent the equivalent of $ 69 billion in transfers to this country, according to the World Bank.

In addition, India is, after China, the country with the largest number of Internet users, with 480 million people connected to the Internet.

It has been a long time since the technology community expects Facebook to develop financial technologies. In 2014, Mark Zuckerberg’s company hired David Marcus, the former chairman of PayPal. Then, last May, David Marcus took the lead of the Facebook team that works on blockchains.

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