The criptomoedas and blockchain sector of Facebook made its first acquisition. According to information from Cheddar, the giant silently integrated most of the research team of Chainspace, a blockchain startup specializing in smart contract development and founded by researchers at University College London.The Chainspace website describes its design as "a platform of intelligent contracts on a planetary scale" that uses a "distributed network of blockchains for scalability, speed and privacy."
A banner at the top of the website says:
"We are happy to announce that the team is moving to something new. The code and documentation for Chainspace will still be open source, and all previously published academic work remains available. "
According to Cheddar, four of the five researchers behind the academic whitepaper of Chainspace are joining the Facebook blockchain team. Two of the authors of the whitepaper, Alberto Sonnino and George Danezis, already list their employment as blockchain researchers in the London office of Facebook on LinkedIn.
A Facebook spokesman confirmed that former Chainspace employees are working on their blockchain division:
"Like many other companies, Facebook is exploring ways to leverage the power of blockchain technology. This new small team is exploring many different applications. We have nothing else to share. "According to Cheddar, Facebook was more interested in Chainspace's research team than in company technology, and the company's spokesman denied having acquired Chainspace's technology.
Facebook, WhatsApp and the cryptocercado
In December 2018, Bloomberg stated that Facebook would be developing a crypto-currency to be used within Whatsapp, with a focus on the Indian market.
Reporters who signed the report cited anonymous sources, but linked to the project. They all asked not to be identified. The idea, they explain, is to develop a stablecoin that is paired with the US dollar.
Still, Facebook would be far from launching the criptomoeda, because it would still be working on the execution strategy, which encompasses the custody of assets and the currency that would be used to protect stablecoin's value.
At the time, the company spokeswoman told the story that Facebook was exploring ways to leverage the power of blockchain technology.