Facebook, without a doubt the worlds biggest social network. Rife with controversy, uncertainty and questionable compulsiveness, there’s a chance that you probably just switched Facebook off to come and read this article. Hey, you might even have seen the article shared on Facebook.
What we are trying to put across here, is the sheer size of Facebook as a social network and as a site of cultural phenomenon. Facebook have an international reach with more than 2.2 billion users and a net income of $15.943 billion in 2017. Way more than any cryptocurrency exchange could care to imagine.
Therefore, it’s fair to say a Facebook-made crypto exchange, would be huge
As a matter of fact, a Facebook made cryptocurrency exchange would be colossal, therefore we believe that it is something Facebook are exploring, it makes sense right?
This notion of course is reinforced by two stories, firstly, we know Facebook now have a blockchain working group, a team of employees dedicated to exploring and researching blockchain technology. The second and most important story though is this;
The Head of Blockchain Research at Facebook, David Marcus, has left his position on the Board of Directors at Coinbase, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world and arguably, the biggest potential rival for a future Facebook made cryptocurrency exchange. The resignation of Marcus is alleged to have been inspired by an appearance of a conflict of interest.
What this means is that, it seems wrong for someone with two very executive positions to be working on two rival projects. This means that Coinbase are either building a social network to rival Facebook, or, more likely, Facebook are building a cryptocurrency exchange to rival Coinbase.
Or, perhaps this means Facebook could be looking at buying Coinbase?
In either scenario (minus the impossible Coinbase social network one) the end result is a cryptocurrency exchange at least backed by some of Facebook’s technology, a prospect that is not only very promising, it’s huge.
Before we move on to looking at the potential this has to change the landscape of cryptocurrency exchanges, please remember that this is just speculation. As it stands, Facebook claim that they are only exploring blockchain technology and have no plans to develop a cryptocurrency exchange, nor do they wish to acquire one, so a Coinbase acquisition is probably off the cards for now.
They would say that though, wouldn’t they?
Either way, let us now consider the sheer volume of users a Facebook based cryptocurrency exchange could reach. Okay yes, not every user of Facebook will use a cryptocurrency exchange, but its likely that current crypto traders on Facebook will use it and moreover, its sure to inspire a bunch of new people to look into investment as, despite everything, Facebook is still a brand that people trust.
The following image details the growth of Facebook users, in millions between Q3 2008 and Q2 2018.
Image sourced from – Statista
The next image shows the average time spent by Facebook users on mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) compared to via web browsers, just in the United States between Q1 2013 and Q4 2016, therefore the 2016 statistics will have risen significantly, highlighting the growth Facebook have seen proving that even if a Facebook cryptocurrency exchange only saw a fraction of that growth, it would still move at a stunning rate.
Image sourced from – Sproutsocial
This graph isn’t the easiest to understand, so to help you along, in Q4 2016 (over three months) US users spent an average of 300 hours on Facebook, 8% of which came through browser based access, with the remaining 92% coming through mobile technologies. This works out as around 100 hours per month, per person.
Bear in mind that a week lasts 168 hours, so that’s just shy of an entire week spent on Facebook in a month, just by users in the United States alone.
Now imagine how much time users might spend on a Facebook cryptocurrency exchange.
You probably get the picture by now.
A Facebook backed cryptocurrency exchange would be massive. As it goes, they are already exploring blockchain technology and now, with the move from Marcus, the guy at the fore of it all is solely focusing on Facebook’s progression, away from a potential rivalry within Coinbase. We think this is too big to be a coincidence, there’s a reason Marcus left and there’s a reason for a conflict of interest.
Who knows, 2019 might see the start of a new revolution, the social media exchange.
