Facebook To Introduce Payments Feature to WhatsApp, Considers Creating Stablecoin

According to various sources, Facebook is planning to expand its WhatsApp workforce within Europe. It is also reported that Facebook will be basing a team of software engineers within London to develop a payments feature for Whatsapp. Recently, Facebook has also devoted attention to blockchain technology and expressed interest in developing a stablecoin.

WhatsApp’s Expanding Team

Despite boasting around 1.5 billion users worldwide, WhatsApp only has around 400 employees. The company is set to expand its workforce by 25 percent. The majority of hires will be from London while other will be hired in Dublin—where a major Facebook office is located. Matt Idema, WhatsApp’s chief operating officer stated:

“We’re eager to work with some of the best technical and operational experts in both London and Dublin to take WhatsApp into its second decade.”

The additional workforce and relocation are expected to revolve around the development of a new digital payment system for the app.

Facebook’s Stablecoin Project

Facebook has been making other moves as well. In addition to WhatsApp, Facebook has previously reported that it was developing a stablecoin as part of what has been termed “Project Libra.” Theoritically, the stablecoin will be backed an undetermined fiat currency. Furthermore, Facebook has been allegedly in talks with payments processors Visa and Mastercard about potential support and financial backing. This falls in line with Facebook’s ambitions to provide an alternative to send money across borders as cheap and as easy as possible. The tech giant can already leverage its platforms that are used worldwide. The payments system has a huge potential especially in developing countries, where remittances still make up a high share of a country’s incoming cash flows. At the F8 conference, Mark Zuckerberg outlined the company’s vision:

“Payments is one of the areas where we have an opportunity to make it a lot easier. I believe it should be as easy to send money to someone as it is to send a photo.”

How soon do you think will Facebook release its digital payment system? What impact will it have on the cryptocurrency industry? Let us know what you think!