Facebook has announced its plans for its own cryptocurrency. The token which is intended to be launched on the Whatsapp platform would be called Stablecoin. The token will be utilized for cash transfers within the Whatsapp platform, and the target market seems to be India due to the massive amount of its Citizens who use the app. An estimated 200 million Indians use Whatsapp, and the number seems to be growing in the rural areas due to the declining costs of data.
Though the token is not billed for release until an unknown date in the future, the potential for adoption seems huge. This is evident from the data on cash remittances to India. A total of $69 Billion in foreign remittances was sent to the country in 2017, according to the World Bank. That is about 2.8% of the entire GDP of India.
This plan for a native token is a drastic change in policy from Facebook, which placed a ban on cryptocurrency adverts as recently as January 2018. The ban was repealed in June. Skeptics have opined that the proposed Stablecoin would most likely turn out to be a ‘Shitcoin’, a term used for worthless and poor performing Digital tokens. It would be prudent for everyone to wait until the coin is released before making any judgments. One can never tell with these things.
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