It’s safe to say that Mark Zuckerberg knows a few things about digital media and social networking. An authority in the Internet space, the man behind Facebook has recently raised a few eyebrows by stating that he’ll be studying cryptocurrencies moving forward, as a means to further understand how they can empower individuals.
Zuckerberg has built his reputation through Facebook and impactful social media advances, but cryptocurrencies present something of an entirely different persuasion. He has stated in interviews that he feels the power of a decentralized cryptocurrency is of key social importance, especially as it has the power to take power away from the centralized system and put it back into the hands of the people.
Investing in further research
Lauded as one of the few true godfathers of social networking, Zuckerberg has gone to great lengths to turn Facebook into a juggernaut. His cryptocurrency fascination has cropped up before, but it appears that his recent post carries a little more weight than prior forays. Declaring his desire to investigate cryptocurrency further, Zuckerberg said, “There are important counter-trends to this – like encryption and cryptocurrency – that take power from centralized systems and put it back into people’s hands. I’m interested to go deeper and study the positive and negative aspects of these technologies, and how best to use them in our services.”
Blockchain-driven social media
Zuckerberg’s post will certainly help further the cryptocurrency discussion, but it certainly isn’t the first social media platform to look towards the blockchain for further development. In fact, various other social media firms have based operations around blockchain from the offset, with SocialX being a prime example. What’s different in the case of Facebook is the brand’s sheer power and global outreach. With more than a billion people using the social media platform on a daily basis, any form of cryptocurrency integration (or even general interest) could prove to be monumental.
Taking an almost philanthropist-like view on the matter, his message was overarching in the sense that he believes that cryptocurrency and the blockchain has the power to fix key governmental, technological, and media Issues. Blockchain has rightfully been hailed as a revolutionary technology that has the power to impact the world. The key to its growth, recognition, and overall adoption comes through mainstream acceptance and further understanding of its power, something that Zuckerberg’s interest could help further.
A potential power shift
Cryptocurrencies function on a decentralized system that runs via pure peer-to-peer power, something that is a departure from Facebook. Very much a centralized operation at this point, Facebook already hands individuals a vocal platform and fair degree of power in the process. Through a decentralized system like cryptocurrency and the blockchain, the power of Facebook could theoretically grow further, as Zuckerberg openly believes it has the potential to redistribute “power”.
Changing the face of money
Within the monetary space, cryptocurrency has flipped the idea of conventional and centralized banking on its head. Pushing out traditionalists and looking towards the future, further innovation through cryptocurrency adoption could push it into the mainstream, especially if Zuckerberg opts to throw his weight behind this growing technology!
