Facebook is jumping on the blockchain bandwagon

Facebook is gearing up to enter the blockchain space, with the creation of a new group that will focus on exploring use cases of the technology within the social media platform.

According to a report from recode, the team was created as part of Facebook’s recent re-shuffle of senior executives, and falls under the ‘new platforms and infrastructure’ division.

It will be led by David Marcus, who is currently in charge of the Messenger app.

Marcus said on twitter last week the idea will be to discover “how to best leverage blockchain for Facebook”. 

Time for a new challenge! After four amazing years leading Messenger, I’m going to setup a small group to explore how to best leverage Blockchain for Facebook. I will miss my fierce Messenger team, but I’m excited about the journey ahead. My full note: https://t.co/nBKAr7vyj9

— David Marcus (@davidmarcus) May 8, 2018

He also joined the board of directors of Coinbase, an online cryptocurrency exchange platform, in December.

The shuffle comes as part of a major reorganisation at Facebook. All functions at the social media giant will now be split into three divisions: platforms and infrastructure, central product services and the family of apps.

Chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer will head up the platforms and infrastructure division, which also includes groups focused on artificial and virtual reality; artificial intelligence; and engineering, infrastructure and data privacy.

Chris Cox, chief product officer, will take on the ‘family of apps’ division, and Javier Olivan, vice president of growth, will oversee central product services, including analytics, ads and integrity, growth and product management.

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