eBay recently denied it was planning to launch virtual currency, but Facebook seems increasingly likely to do so.
The BBC reported that Facebook had met with the Bank of England on plans to set up a digital payments system in about a dozen countries by the first quarter of 2020, where it apparently revealed its crypto plans:
“The social media giant wants to start testing its crypto-currency, which has been referred to internally as GlobalCoin, by the end of this year,” according to the BBC.
There’s a tidbit of special interest to sellers: “Facebook is also reportedly in talks with a number of online merchants to accept the currency as payment in return for lower transaction fees,” according to the BBC, where you can read more details.
Meanwhile, eBay quashed rumors it had plans to launch virtual currency. An eBay spokesperson told EcommerceBytes 2 weeks ago, “Cryptocurrency is not accepted as a form of payment on the eBay platform, nor is it part of our payments strategy.” It was in response to reports of eBay ads at a cryptocurrency conference that ran, “Virtual Currency. It’s happening on eBay.” The ads appear to have been a reference to physical products, such as crypto mining equipment, that are available on its site.
A lot more needs to be known about Facebook’s plans, but it’s interesting to note the social networking site continued focus on ecommerce – including plans for digital payments.
