Meta (the company formerly known as Facebook) is thinking about creating its own virtual currency. Some reporters (and anonymous company sources) say it is unlikely to be a cryptocurrency. That seems naive. No matter how they create Zuck Bucks, if it has a value inside of the Zuckerverse, it will have a value outside of the Zuckerverse. Like any loyalty points program, Zuck Bucks will be mostly unregulated; there will be some accounting rules to follow, but not many. I can’t wait to launch the “ZuckExchange,” the world’s first decentralized crypto exchange purpose-built to transact in Zuck Bucks.
This may turn out to be a much better strategy for Meta than its original Libra or Diem projects, which were crushed by outside forces. No one can tell Meta how to craft a points program. No one can set a value for the points (except Meta). No one will be allowed to control the decentralized (or centralized) exchanges that pop up as a result of this new global exchange currency. It will be super safe to use; Meta is a central authority bigger (by population) than any individual country. It will be backed by the balance sheet of Meta, which is bigger by market cap than the GDPs of many countries. In the end, by accident, Meta may get the best of all possible worlds: its own unregulated value exchange tools adopted by over 3 billion people worldwide. What could possibly go wrong?
Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it.