Facebook Messenger is unlikely to embrace cryptocurrency payments anytime soon according to David Marcus, Facebook’s vice president of messaging.
In a recent interview with CNBC, the former president of PayPal pointed to perceived issues with existing cryptocurrencies, specifying high transaction fees and slow transaction times as reasons why the product isn’t likely to introduce the technology as a payment method, at least in the near term.
However, Marcus, who joined the board of Coinbase in late 2017, did leave the door open to allowing such payments in the future, saying that when blockchain developer communities “fix all the issues,” it’s possible that the company will “do something” to open up the option.
The comments notably follow Facebook’s ban on cryptocurrency-related ads. Announced last week, the social media giant cited concerns that users were being exposed to fraudulent ICOs and cryptocurrency schemes amidst what has been a wave of regulatory actions to start 2018.
During the interview, Marcus reiterated these concerns, saying the ban was part of a move to “protect the community.” Fraudulent ICOs can reflect poorly on the entire cryptocurrency space, and according to Marcus, “a vast majority of these ads were a scam.”
Still, cryptocurrency and ICO-related content may return to Facebook in the future, Marcus said.
He told CNBC:
“Once the industry self regulates a lot better and you have better more legit products that want to be advertised on the platform. When we get to that stage, we’ll figure out a way to reintroduce these things.”
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