Zuckerberg Dedicates Top Execs to New Facebook Blockchain Team
Zuckerberg is dedicating his highest ranking executives to his Facebook Blockchain Team, marking the biggest restructuring in the companies history.
The team will be headed by David Marcus, formerly the President of Paypal, and interestingly he sits on the Board of Directors at Coinbase, the world’s most popular digital currency exchange. Marcus’ facebook post said:
“After nearly four unbelievably rewarding years leading Messenger, I have decided it was time for me to take on a new challenge. I’m setting up a small group to explore how to best leverage Blockchain across Facebook,”
The Facebook Blockchain Team will also include Instagram Executives Kevin Weil and James Everingham, who have a history for fast-paced strategies, namely defending Facebook from the rise of Snapchat.
The announcement is made just four months after Zuckerberg stated in his 2018 mission statement, that he was:
“interested in studying the ‘positive and negative aspects’ of the decentralised nature of technologies like cryptocurrencies.”
Cryptocurrency related products have seen an increased uptake from millennials, a demographic that Zuckerberg holds a lion share of. Indeed, many start-up blockchain companies look to disrupt Facebook’s hold on this market.
Messaging app Telegram, who gained 200 million users without advertising, has raised almost $2 billion from private investors to build a blockchain-based network.
Blockchain’s ability to allow users data ownership, has investors rushing toward the networking market, with angel investor Jason Calacanis’ ‘Open Book Challenge’ offering developers $100,000 to create a Facebook replacement.
In light of Facebook’s recent privacy woes and ‘fakenews’ worries, IBM’s Senior Vice President of Blockchain, Bridget van Kralingen has said:
“For Facebook, the fundamental issue that they’re grappling with is very suited to the technology of blockchain,”
Zuckerberg is not to be underestimated, he has a board that includes venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Peter Thiel, who have been active investors in blockchain. Furthermore, he has a history of rising to the challenge.
