Facebook has clearly denied the claims that it is working on a cryptocurrency project on the Stellar platform to develop their independent blockchain.
“We are not engaged in any discussions with Stellar, and we are not considering building on their technology,” a Facebook spokesperson told Cheddar, an online news portal. Reports about the two companies engaging in talks of creating a new variant on the Stellar blockchain network were making rounds on Business Insider since Friday.
Before the reports, Facebook Vice President, David Marcus, who also heads the company’s crypto task force, stepped down from the board of crypto exchange Coinbase, citing a conflict of interest.
“Because of the new group I’m setting up at Facebook around blockchain, I’ve decided it was appropriate for me to resign from the Coinbase board,” Marcus told Cheddar in a statement. “I’ve been thoroughly impressed by the talent and execution the team has demonstrated during my tenure, and I wish the team all the success it deserves going forward."
The timing of this move led to the speculation that Facebook might be planning to launch some kind of crypto project in the near future while eyeing Stellar as a potential base for their blockchain plans. Earlier this month, news of Facebook exploring the creation of its own in-app currency were also rumored.
“We are still in the very early stages and we are considering a number of different applications for the blockchain,” a company representative told. “But we don’t have anything else to share at this time.”
Stellar has in the past helped a social media company Kik, fork its own blockchain - Kin, which operates on a Stellar fork. Facebook is also looking to penetrate the blockchain industry and is hoping to dominate it, as it always has on other platforms. It will be interesting to see how they plan to set their launch into the crypto scene.