Facebook parent company Meta has developed plans to integrate virtual tokens, coins, and lending services into its apps as it continues its financial ambitions despite the failure of a cryptocurrency venture.
As the popularity of its core social networking sites, such as Facebook and Instagram, declines, the firm is looking for new revenue streams and features to attract and retain users.
What is 'Zuck Bucks'?
According to some people familiar with the matter, Facebook's finance unit Meta Financial Technologies has been exploring the establishment of a virtual currency for the metaverse, which employees internally have dubbed "Zuck Bucks," Financial Times reported on Wednesday, April 6.
Zuck Bucks are "unlikely" to be a cryptocurrency. Instead, Meta is considering implementing in-app tokens that would be centralized by the company, similar to those used in gaming apps like the Robux currency in the famous children's game Roblox.
Roblox, as reported by The Verge, has made a fortune selling Robux, and Meta could aim to replicate some of that success on its own platforms.
Reuters said if deployed, Zuck Bucks could also provide Meta with a new revenue channel and control over transactions in its suite of apps and services, which includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and the Meta Quest virtual reality platform.
The move, which is still in its early stages, comes as Meta strengthens its focus on services centered on the metaverse, a virtual environment where people socialize, work, and play.
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Meta is also looking into "social tokens" or "reputation tokens," which might be used to compensate people for making substantial contributions to Facebook groups, for example. Traditional financial services, such as small business loans, appear to be on the company's radar as well.
Meta Plans Posting and Sharing NFTs on Facebook
While people close to Meta say that Zuck Bucks are intended for the metaverse and may not be based on blockchain, The Verge said that Meta has not completely abandoned blockchain products, as the company is looking into posting and sharing NFTs on Facebook.
Financial Times reported that Meta aims to start a pilot for posting and distributing NFTs on Facebook in mid-May, according to an internal memo distributed last week. Testing of a feature that will allow membership in Facebook groups based on NFT ownership and another for minting NFTs will follow "soon."
According to another internal document, NFTs may be monetized in the future through "fees and/or adverts."
In February, it was noted that Meta's market value plummeted by more than $220 billion as it announced that users were spending more time on upstart competitors like TikTok.
The company has recently looked into cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies in order to establish new revenue streams and support retail on the site.
In January, as previously reported by the Financial Times, Meta revealed some of its NFT ambitions for Facebook and Instagram, and in March, Zuckerberg confirmed that NFTs would be coming to Instagram.
