Facebook is finally ready to launch its digital wallet, named Novi. However, legislators across the USA may prove to be a problem.
Recently, David A. Marcus, head of Facebook's Financial (F2) Division, sat down with tech e-mag Axios to discuss the new wallet and the challenges it faces. For those unaware, Novi is a new brand that essentially boils down to a personalized online wallet. With many transactions happening online, and Facebook being a central hub of these very transactions, it seems natural that the social network would want to extend its grasp across the world wide web. More so than that, it seems that whatever the online niche, Facebook actively invest itself in it. They bought WhatsApp, Oculus, Instagram, tried to do the same with Snapchat, established a streaming platform, and has often been called out for being anti-competition.
At any rate, even the mere establishment of an online wallet system from the social network is something that is bound to raise a few eyebrows. This is put best by David A. Marcus, who states that Facebook has a trust deficit that needs to be overcome. He's not wrong. The past few years have not been kind on the company's social image and standing. A list of allegations regarding Facebook stealing user data, the site being rife with Russian bots that manipulated election data, and even its role as a platform for planning the US Capitol Riots have developed an aura of distrust. This is best defined by the Congressional hearings that the social media giant was subjected to all the way back in 2018 (and more recently in 2021).
Clearly, there's not much love for Facebook, especially amongst politicians and lawmakers. However, it's undeniable that a platform such as Novi can prove to be extremely helpful. It provides a mainstream site for cryptocurrency exchange, and actively makes the entire process of dealing with the stuff more accessible. Therefore, Novi isn't necessarily a platform set out with the most evil of intentions. However, other than giving Facebook another source via which it can poorly utilise user data, lawmakers are also concerned that this way the social network could even form it's own cryptocurrency. Worse, with Novi being such an accessible platform, that currency could actively devalue other real life currencies, such as the US dollar itself.
All of this information is speculative, to say the least. Ultimately, only time will tell of the impact that Facebook's e-wallet will have on the global market. Provided it gets into the air in the first place.
Read next: Facebook in collaboration with Ray-Ban previews its latest smart Eyeglasses
Recently, David A. Marcus, head of Facebook's Financial (F2) Division, sat down with tech e-mag Axios to discuss the new wallet and the challenges it faces. For those unaware, Novi is a new brand that essentially boils down to a personalized online wallet. With many transactions happening online, and Facebook being a central hub of these very transactions, it seems natural that the social network would want to extend its grasp across the world wide web. More so than that, it seems that whatever the online niche, Facebook actively invest itself in it. They bought WhatsApp, Oculus, Instagram, tried to do the same with Snapchat, established a streaming platform, and has often been called out for being anti-competition.
At any rate, even the mere establishment of an online wallet system from the social network is something that is bound to raise a few eyebrows. This is put best by David A. Marcus, who states that Facebook has a trust deficit that needs to be overcome. He's not wrong. The past few years have not been kind on the company's social image and standing. A list of allegations regarding Facebook stealing user data, the site being rife with Russian bots that manipulated election data, and even its role as a platform for planning the US Capitol Riots have developed an aura of distrust. This is best defined by the Congressional hearings that the social media giant was subjected to all the way back in 2018 (and more recently in 2021).
Clearly, there's not much love for Facebook, especially amongst politicians and lawmakers. However, it's undeniable that a platform such as Novi can prove to be extremely helpful. It provides a mainstream site for cryptocurrency exchange, and actively makes the entire process of dealing with the stuff more accessible. Therefore, Novi isn't necessarily a platform set out with the most evil of intentions. However, other than giving Facebook another source via which it can poorly utilise user data, lawmakers are also concerned that this way the social network could even form it's own cryptocurrency. Worse, with Novi being such an accessible platform, that currency could actively devalue other real life currencies, such as the US dollar itself.
All of this information is speculative, to say the least. Ultimately, only time will tell of the impact that Facebook's e-wallet will have on the global market. Provided it gets into the air in the first place.
Read next: Facebook in collaboration with Ray-Ban previews its latest smart Eyeglasses
