Mark Zuckerberg wants to launch his own virtual currency for the metaverse

Meta could have abandoned the Diem project, but is still exploring the possibility of issuing its own digital asset. Now the organization is working on the Zuck Bucks virtual currency.

Zuck Bucks is “unlikely” to become a cryptocurrency in the usual sense, the asset is planned to be introduced into the metaverse. Meta can also issue “social tokens” designed to reward participation and “coins for authors” for influencers.

“We are making changes to our product strategy and roadmap so that we can prioritize building the metaverse and how payments and financial services will look like in this digital world,” Stephan Kasriel, Meta’s finance division, said earlier.

Implementation of virtual currency in Meta services may occur in parallel with the study of NFT integration for Facebook and Instagram. The company intends to launch the corresponding pilot program in May this year.

According to Meta spokeswoman Lauren Dixon, the company is “focused on the metaverse, including how payments and financial services might look in it.”

The Financial Times, in turn, specifies that Mark Zuckerberg’s company may implement “tokens in applications that will be centrally controlled by the company, similar to those used in gaming applications, such as the Robux currency in the popular children’s game Roblox.”

Roblox has built a pretty serious business selling Robux, so Meta might be looking to replicate that success on its own platforms.

We would like to remind our readers that Meta wanted to issue its own token during the first six months of 2020, but decided not to do so due to warnings from regulators. The company changed the name of the project from Libra to Diem.

This year, the media reported that the company could sell its cryptocurrency project for $200 million. Then it became known that Silvergate Capital became the buyer of intellectual property and other assets of Diem.

Do you think Meta will be able to launch its own crypto products? Will they be popular with users?