Facebook is looking to extend its reach to the cryptocurrency market by hiring experts and building a team. However, the aims, scope and timeline of the projects are yet to be disclosed.

When this project kicks off, WhatsApp users will be able to send money instantly on the app.

A new report claims Facebook is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency as early as the first half of this year. The first of the several blockchain-based projects by Facebook would most likely be a ‘stablecoin’. These are cryptocurrencies tied to the value of traditional assets like gold.

The problem with stablecoins for payments is that businesses don’t accept them, so you must first convert them into fiat currency, like dollars or pounds or naira or what-have-you, to actually buy things like groceries or rides. But they can be used for remittances.

What this means is, if your family abroad sends you five thousand FaceCoin for a 0.1% fee, you would need to somehow convert it to naira at an exchange. This medium has not been explored yet and can seem incredibly tedious.

But if Facebook can solve this hurdle and somehow make the means of exchange easier, then they would have been incredibly successful in this feat.

Facebook is already talking to cryptocurrency exchanges about listing the coin which is expected to launch soon. They admitted earlier in the year that they were looking to explore the blockchain technology with over 50 engineers working on the project.

Mobile messaging apps like Telegram and Signal have also expressed plans to roll out their own cryptocurrencies over the next year.