The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the social media giant has signed on more than a dozen backers for its GlobalCoin cryptocurrency, a stablecoin that has been developed in secrecy for more than six months. Each of the new backers will invest roughly $10 million in the project as part of a governing consortium for the cryptocurrency.
Stripe, Booking.com and MercadoLibre are part of the project, according to the Journal, though the report does not specify what their roles are.
Facebook announced it was launching GlobalCoin last December, though the company indicated that it was looking at cryptocurrency as far back as the end of 2017. The crypto is expected to be a stablecoin that will operate within the company’s messaging infrastructure – WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger.
However, Facebook has been tight-lipped about what exactly GlobalCoin will be used for, though the BBC suggested that Facebook may look to retailers, allowing its users to purchase discounted goods using the cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrency would be used to transfer value directly from Facebook to the retailer, cutting out credit card companies in the middle, which BBC suggests would help the retailers’ profits.
GlobalCoin is now expected to be unveiled on June 18.
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