Cryptocurrency & Social Networks: What to Expect And Prepare For?
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One after another, Twitter, Meta, Telegram, and Reddit announce plans to integrate digital assets into their systems. In the article, we will explain why this is necessary and what opportunities it opens up.
Benefits of social media integration for cryptocurrencies
According to statistics, in 2022, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp had 2.94 billion monthly active users. Even if 10% of them decide to use a particular asset, it will become one of the most popular in the world. In comparison, the network of Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, processes about 250 000 transactions and has about 1 000 000 active addresses daily. And the total number of crypto users is now 320 million.
Social media applications already provide users with a networking and communications infrastructure. This means users don’t have to use multiple payment apps, and developers can build various apps on top of the social network.
Cryptocurrency integration in social media
Meta (formerly Facebook)
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, back in 2018, announced the development of the direction of digital currencies in two segments: the development of its asset and the creation of the next generation of platforms, the Horizon Worlds metaverse. She works with VR and AR headsets. Zuckerberg describes the new digital world as “the internet where you are, not just looking at it.”
In the summer of 2019, Meta announced the launch of the Libra stablecoin, which was supposed to be managed by the non-profit organization Libra Association and the Calibra wallet.
The project was supported by Visa, Mastercard, PayPal payment systems, Uber, Spotify, venture Andreessen Horowitz, and the Coinbase platform. So, according to The Wall Street Journal, they invested $10 million each.
The creation of Libra worried regulators, and companies soon pulled out of the digital currency project. In 2020, Libra was renamed to Diem, and the digital wallet from Calibra to Novi. The consortium behind the project has changed its name to the Diem Association.
Unfortunately, at the beginning of 2022, Meta abandoned the full-scale launch of the wallet and announced the closure of the project after testing was completed, and the Diem Association announced the sale of intellectual property to Silvergate Capital Corporation.
At one time, Meta, a leader in the field of digital technologies, managed to turn the world order and completely change modern communication. However, the centralized company failed to create a working distributed payment network. According to CoinDesk, Meta does not intend to use Novi-related developments in future projects, including those related to “out of universe” technologies.
At the time of writing, the company focuses on developing a virtual sandbox. It can change the course of events in terms of communication and pastime. Can Meta be part of the digital future?
Twitter is one of the first social networks to introduce cryptocurrency payment into its functionality. In 2021, the company launched the Tips feature. It allows users to support accounts financially. In addition to the usual payment services, the platform has added the ability to tip in BTC using Strike, an application built on the Bitcoin Lightning network. According to Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, users from countries such as Africa may not have access to traditional providers, so Bitcoin is one of the best solutions.
In December 2022, a new feature, $Cashtags, appeared on the Twitter Business account. It allows the platform to provide real-time market charts of digital assets. For now, this feature only supports BTC and ETH. It is expected that the list of available assets will expand soon. According to a post by Elon Musk, CEO of the company, this feature is one of many other cryptocurrency adoption initiatives on Twitter.
It is an entertainment, online news service, and online media where registered users can create content. Cryptocurrency Reddit has been using for a long time. The platform is known for allowing users to pay for their premium BTC membership in 2013. However, removed this feature in 2018, citing an upcoming Coinbase update.
In 2020, they tokenized points on the second-level (L2) blockchain, Arbitrum, for select subreddits, subtopics, or categories of the platform. And in June 2021, they even launched the CryptoSnoos NFT collection.
Telegram
In September 2022, Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of the messaging platform, announced that he would be holding an auction of usernames — both for individual accounts and channels — through the Fragment marketplace, built on top of the TON blockchain. Now users can buy and sell names in the messenger, including short nicknames. The username will be given to the one whose maximum bid is not outbid within a week. The most expensive lot is @bank. It is estimated at 63 000 TON. According to the exchange rate on CoinMarketCap, this is more than $100 000. Among the most expensive are also @auto, @fifa, and @card.
In 2018, the company planned to launch the Telegram Open Network (TON) blockchain project. It was conceived as a new stage in the development of the blockchain. TON was supposed to be a platform for decentralized applications with smart contracts and a virtual machine.
The idea was supported by prominent investors, including Benchmark and Lightspeed Capital, who invested $1.7 billion. However, Telegram was forced to abandon the project after a legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
After Telegram stopped working on TON, various independent teams continued to work on the blockchain based on the project code. Pavel Durov supported the network developers.
In November 2022, Durov announced the creation of decentralized tools: noncustodial wallets, exchanges (DEX), and applications (dApps). They allow millions of users to trade and store digital assets securely.
