Meta plans virtual currency, creator coins for its apps

• Meta Platforms Inc is readying plans to introduce virtual tokens and cryptocurrencies to its family of apps with an aim to use such virtual tokens for rewarding creators and lending and other financial services.
• If implemented, it could also give Meta a new revenue channel and control over transactions in its suite of apps and services, which include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and the Meta Quest virtual reality platform.

Meta's cryptocurrencies

• Internally dubbed as "Zuck Bucks", are intended for the metaverse and may not be based on blockchain.
• In the face of intense opposition from banking regulators throughout the world, Meta abandoned its plan to develop a worldwide cryptocurrency, originally dubbed Libra but then renamed Diem.
• Now, Meta could introduce in-app tokens that would be centrally controlled by the company, the report said, and such tokens could be used to pay favourite creators on Instagram or reward people who make meaningful contributions in Facebook groups.
• Earlier this year, Meta joined the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a group of companies led by Jack Dorsey's Block Inc that has pledged to promote open access to cryptocurrency technologies.
• Formed in 2020, COPA boosts crypto innovation by bringing down the chances of patent litigation.
• It helps by creating open-source settings to protect core technologies for the users.

Metaverse

• Coined by science fiction writer Neal Stephenson in 1992.
• It is the next version of the Internet focused on social connection.
• It can be defined as a simulated digital environment that uses Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and blockchain, along with concepts from social media, to create spaces for rich user interaction mimicking the real world.

Examples of metaverse:

• In today’s world there is a lot that goes on virtually. NFTs or Non Fungible tokens can be considered an example of metaverse already. Even cryptocurrencies are one of them. However it is still far from the complete metaverse experience which would actually mean living lives on the internet.
• As per Zuckerberg’s description, the metaverse is an “embodied internet, where instead of just viewing content you are in it.”
• In order to access the metaverse, Facebook would require the biometric data such as eye scans, voice recordings, pulse rates, etc.
• All of this information would then be collected by Facebook Inc. This data would then be used to build the multiverse.

Exam Track

Prelims Takeaway

• Metaverse
• Examples of metaverse
• Use of cryptocurrencies in Social media apps

Mains track

Q. Cryptocurrencies are finding their way through every aspect of life be it games or social media. Critically analyse how cryptocurrencies can both prove to be a hindrance in or a facilitator of digital currency circulation in the world.