{"source_url": "https://www.barrons.com", "url": "https://www.barrons.com/articles/facebooks-digital-coin-is-another-knock-against-the-dream-of-cryptocurrency-51551485915?mod=article_inline", "title": "Facebook\u2019s Digital Coin Is Another Knock Against the Dream of Cryptocurrency", "top_image": "https://asset.barrons.com/public/resources/images/ON-CQ910_Crypto_G_20180910103908.jpg", "meta_img": "https://asset.barrons.com/public/resources/images/ON-CQ910_Crypto_G_20180910103908.jpg", "images": ["https://asset.barrons.com/public/resources/images/ON-CQ910_Crypto_G_20180910103908.jpg", "https://asset.barrons.com/public/resources/images/ON-CQ910_Crypto_B620_20180910103908.jpg", "https://www.barrons.com/asset/barrons/images/barrons-logo.png", "https://asset.barrons.com/public/resources/images/ON-CQ910_Crypto_D_20180910103908.jpg"], "movies": [], "text": "Text size\n\nOne way to view the relatively brief history of the internet is that it was once a wide-open space that has been turned into a series of digital walled-gardens, where the defining feature is centralized control by an increasingly small group of powerful companies.\n\nIt\u2019s a profitable system for those companies, and they very much want users to spend as much time inside their particular patch of the digital world as possible.\n\nAnd if engagement is the coin of the realm, why not issue a coin to keep people engaged? That\u2019s what Facebook plans to do, the New York Times reported Thursday:\n\nThe company is working on a coin that users of WhatsApp, which Facebook owns, could send to friends and family instantly, said five people briefed on the effort who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of confidentiality agreements.\n\nThe Facebook project is far enough along that the social networking giant has held conversations with cryptocurrency exchanges about selling the Facebook coin to consumers, said four people briefed on the negotiations.\n\n(Facebook\u2019s coin project was first reported by Bloomberg.)\n\nWhen JPMorgan Chase announced its digital coin prototype for institutional customers, I wrote that it was the latest bit of increasingly telling evidence that the initial dream of cryptocurrency \u2013 unmediated, cash-like transactions \u2013 was dead and Facebook\u2019s coin project provides more of the same. (Privacy-focused messaging apps Telegram and Signal are also working on their own coin projects.)\n\nThese sorts of stablecoins, which are pegged to the U.S. dollar, function as a sort of internal IOU \u2013 company scrip for the digital age.\n\nOf course, there is an element here, particularly in JPMorgan\u2019s case, of simply making the way things currently function more explicit. The dollars that large corporations deposit with JP Morgan are already effectively digital IOUs.\n\nNor is the desire to use money to coerce engagement or adherence to certain rules new. Indeed, that\u2019s one way the U.S. government uses the dollar and the banking system that holds it. Economic sanctions, one of the strongest foreign policy tools at the U.S.\u2019s disposal, are effected through the various regulated uses of the dollar.\n\nCryptocurrencies were supposed to challenge states\u2019 stranglehold on that sort of power. And if they ever do, it\u2019s looking like they\u2019ll be issued by some of the world\u2019s largest corporations.", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": ["Facebook", "FB", "cryptocurrency", "currencies", "disruption", "technology", "banking", "credit", "financial services", "financial technology", "online service providers", "media", "entertainment", "social media platforms", "tools", "virtual currencies", "cryptocurrencies"], "tags": [], "authors": ["Ben Walsh"], "publish_date": null, "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "Facebook\u2019s digital coin is another knock against the dream that is cryptocurrency and another example of using money to create engagement", "meta_lang": "en", "meta_favicon": "//www.barrons.com/favicon.ico", "meta_data": {"viewport": "width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, minimum-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no", "dj.asn": "i-0f9d", "user.type": "nonsubscriber", "user.exp": "default", "page.content.type": "Article", "page.content.format": "responsive", "page.content.source": "Barrons Online", "page.site": "Barrons Online", "page.site.product": "BOL", "article.template": "full", "page.region": "na,us", "article.id": "SB52448861552009614487104585154671026254964", "article.type": "Feature", "article.type.display": "Feature", "article.access": "paid", "article.origheadline": "Facebook\u2019s Digital Coin Is Another Knock Against the Dream of Cryptocurrency", "article.headline": "Facebook\u2019s Digital Coin Is Another Knock Against the Dream of Cryptocurrency", "article.summary": "Facebook\u2019s digital coin is another knock against the dream that is cryptocurrency and another example of using money to create engagement", "apple-itunes-app": "app-id=409882593,app-argument=barrons://launch?articleid=SB52448861552009614487104585154671026254964&headline=Facebook%u2019s%20Digital%20Coin%20Is%20Another%20Knock%20Against%20the%20Dream%20of%20Cryptocurrency&weburl=http://www.barrons.com/articles/SB52448861552009614487104585154671026254964", "article.page": "Daily", "article.section": "Daily", "article.published": "2019-03-02T00:18:00.000Z", "article.updated": "2019-03-02T00:18:00.000Z", "article.created": "2019-03-02T00:18:00.000Z", "dateLastPubbed": "2019-03-02T00:18:00.000Z", "author": "Ben Walsh", "keywords": "Facebook,FB,cryptocurrency,currencies,disruption,technology,banking,credit,financial services,financial technology,online service providers,media,entertainment,social media platforms,tools,virtual currencies,cryptocurrencies", "news_keywords": "Facebook,FB,cryptocurrency,currencies,disruption,technology,banking,credit,financial services,financial technology", "description": "Facebook\u2019s digital coin is another knock against the dream that is cryptocurrency and another example of using money to create engagement", "article": {"word_count": 387, "image_count": 1, "external_link_count": 3, "opinion": "false"}, "robots": "noarchive,noodp", "language": "en-US", "twitter": {"title": "Facebook\u2019s Digital Coin Is Another Knock Against the Dream of Cryptocurrency", "description": "Facebook\u2019s digital coin is another knock against the dream that is cryptocurrency and another example of using money to create engagement", "image": {"identifier": "https://asset.barrons.com/public/resources/images/ON-CQ910_Crypto_G_20180910103908.jpg", "alt": "Facebook\u2019s Digital Coin Is Another Knock Against the Dream of Cryptocurrency"}, "card": "summary_large_image", "creator": "@BenDWalsh", "site": "@BarronsOnline"}, "fb": {"app_id": 64579042740}, "og": {"title": "Facebook\u2019s Digital Coin Is Another Knock Against the Dream of Cryptocurrency", "description": "Facebook\u2019s digital coin is another knock against the dream that is cryptocurrency and another example of using money to create engagement", "url": "https://www.barrons.com/articles/facebooks-digital-coin-is-another-knock-against-the-dream-of-cryptocurrency-51551485915", "image": {"identifier": "https://asset.barrons.com/public/resources/images/ON-CQ910_Crypto_G_20180910103908.jpg", "width": 553, "height": 369}, "locale": "en_US", "type": "article"}, "cx_pv_id": "k4wtqsa53saf2a7u", "cx_shield": "{\"campaign\":202,\"placement\":\"cx-articlecover\",\"tag\":\"default\",\"type\":\"free\",\"bucket\":2}", "parsely-title": "Facebook\u2019s Digital Coin Is Another Knock Against the Dream of Cryptocurrency", "cXenseParse": {"wsj-display": "Cryptocurrency", "wsj-ad-page": "Cryptocurrency", "wsj-barrons-tags": "Currencies,Cryptocurrency,Technology,Disruption"}, "referrer": "always", "article.continuous.publisher": "BARRONS", "article.continuous.limit": 8, "recommendedArticles": "SB51313239837644343326904586110703369549790"}, "canonical_link": "https://www.barrons.com/articles/facebooks-digital-coin-is-another-knock-against-the-dream-of-cryptocurrency-51551485915"}