Down But Not Out, Facebook May Turn to Crypto

Facebook is having a tough year. Traffic on the site has been sliding for the past two years, and that’s not good news for a company that earns the majority of its revenues from advertisements. Although bullish analysts insist that a rebound is coming any day now, Facebook’s stock is still trading well below its July peak of $217.50. And, to make matters worse, Facebook is in the midst of a political scandal and what some may even call a crisis of leadership.

What’s Going on at Facebook

In addition to declining clicks, Facebook has been hit hard by political scandal throughout 2018. The Cambridge Analytica scandal saw Mark Zuckerberg dragged before Congress, and the company hasn’t demonstrated great initiative in remedying privacy issues that have come to light since. Zuckerberg has also been criticized heavily for suppressing certain viewpoints shared on Facebook’s platform, and the entire operation raises meaningful concerns regarding the perpetuation of false or harmful materials.

All in all, Facebook has seen its fair share of challenges this year. But the tech industry is nothing if not innovative, and Facebook didn’t get to the top of the Silicon Valley ecosystem for nothing. The company is looking at new ways to attract new users and improve its services, and it’s starting to approach blockchain and cryptocurrency technology in entirely new ways.

Crypto at Facebook

Facebook has not been particularly friendly to the cryptocurrency world, but that all may be changing. The company recently loosened its ban on crypto-related advertisements, slowly but surely recognizing the legitimacy of this increasingly-significant technologies. This small move is definitely a step in the right direction, and it may be a sign of what’s to come from the down-but-still-swinging tech giant.

Media reports picked up on a meeting between Facebook and cryptocurrency company Stellar, where the companies discussed potential applications of distributed ledger technology on the Facebook payments network. They even raised the possibility of forking the Stellar blockchain to facilitate integration into Facebook’s social media platform. And, with a top executive in the Facebook blockchain division stepping down from the Coinbase board citing concerns of a possible conflict of interest, rumors are swirling about an upcoming announcement on a new initiative. It’s even possible that Facebook will launch its own token in order to facilitate its expanding payment-processing operations.

Whatever may be going on at Facebook, the company really could use a Hail Mary after a hard-hitting start to 2018. With the blockchain and cryptocurrency revolution still going strong, it’s entirely possible that Facebook’s turnaround will be fueled by its blockchain division. Exactly what the social media giant has up its sleeve remains to be seen, but we can expect the company to warm up more and more to applications of blockchain and cryptocurrency technology across Facebook’s products and services.