- Facebook’s token could help provide financial services to underserved people
- This would target users in Asia, Latin America, and Africa
- There are still some challenges involved
Most of the crypto world is aware of the highly-anticipated Facebook coin which has been in the works for a few months. Facebook has done damage control for its reputation as well as putting together a team of highly-qualified individuals to launch their token.
This new project is anticipated not just because of the company behind it but because of what it could mean for crypto adoption across the globe. A May 15, 2019, report also touches on what it could mean for underserved members of society, particularly in third world countries.
Bringing Crypto to All
The collective efforts of the community have been towards getting crypto to mainstream levels of adoption and wider attention. Facebook is the most powerful social media company in the world and has over 2 billion users across its many platforms. The token has been rumored to be connected to the to WhatsApp platform which also has millions of users and should it be a success, it could mean that hundreds of millions of people will begin using cryptocurrency overnight and could spell the biggest wave of adoption seen thus far.
Whatsapp is very dominant in places such as Asia, Africa, and Latin America and such areas are home to underserved members of the financial ecosystem who may not have access to quality financial services. Those people, however, do have access to platforms such as WhatsApp and should WhatsApp have a secure and well-defined means of making and receiving payments, such people could bypass the exclusive banking system and access financial services by a different means.
It was also seen in Venezuela where Dash launched a text-based payment system called Dash text, in which individuals could send payments to one another using a text message. As of the time was launched, Venezuela was going through a financial crisis that made inflation a part of daily life and access to liquid cash quite difficult. Dash text created an alternative that helped them bypass these challenges.
Not that Easy
In the report, it is stated there are a few roadblocks that need to be looked at. One of which is the fact that cryptocurrency value is often volatile and the underserved are usually the poorer members of society and as such, do not need an unstable currency to store their funds in.
Also touched on is the fact that even though the sending and receiving of funds could be made easier through Facebook, the cashing out of the currency and using it in the local market will not be quite as easy.