Facebook is working on ‘Zuck Bucks’, a virtual coin for the metaverse

‘Social tokens’ or ‘reputation tokens’ could be awarded by the company for contributions in the metaverse

Adam Smith
Thursday 07 April 2022 12:34 BST
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Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, is reportedly introducing virtual coins and tokens called “Zuck Bucks”.

The name, which is only used internally and will probably not be the title of the completed service, is being developed even as the company shuttered its endeavour to start a crypto currency.

Meta Financial Technologies has been exploring a virtual currency for the metaverse, according to the Financial Times, and will likely come to use in-app tokens that would be centrally controlled by Meta similar to other virtual currencies in games like Fortnite or Roblox.

Meta is also looking into the creation of “social tokens” or “reputation tokens” for contributions in the platform, and “creator coins” that could be associated with influencers on Instagram.

These efforts remain in early stages and could still be dropped, but its plans to introduce NFTs to Instagram will apparently launch in a pilot form mid-May.

“We’re working on bringing NFTs to Instagram in the near term," the Facebook founder and Meta chief said at the SXSW conference in Texas.

"I’m not ready to kind of announce exactly what that’s going to be today. But over the next several months, the ability to bring some of your NFTs in, hopefully over time be able to mint things within that environment.”

NFTs may be monetised via “fees and/or ads” in the future, another internal document reportedly said.

Diem, the cryptocurrency backed by Facebook’s parent company Meta, was shut down at the start of February.

“Despite giving us positive substantive feedback on the design of the network, it nevertheless became clear from our dialogue with federal regulators that the project could not move ahead”, Diem chief executive Stuart Levey said. It is now believed that future tokens will not be backed by the blockchain, a digital ledger that is the foundation of other crypto currencies like bitcoin and Ethereum.

“We have no updates to share today. We continuously consider new product innovations for people, businesses, and creators. As a company, we are focused on building for the metaverse and that includes what payments and financial services might look like”, a Meta company spokesperson told The Independent.

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