More Details Emerge on Team Behind Facebook’s Secretive Blockchain

More names are being linked to Facebook’s secretive cryptocurrency project.

Following a report Wednesday by The Information claiming the social media giant’s “GlobalCoin” could debut as early as this month, CNBC reported on 10 Facebook executives linked to the effort.

Additionally, as first reported by CoinDesk in May, The Information says MIT’s Christian Catalini is the Facebook crypto project’s chief economist.

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Sunita Parasuraman is the manager of the Switzerland-based foundation leading the token project, according to The Information. Meanwhile, some of the 10 executives working under Facebook blockchain lead David Marcus are based in Israel, CNBC reports.

None of the 10 listed in the article come from cryptocurrency backgrounds, though some have past experience in financial technology. Prior to joining Facebook, Marcus was the president of PayPal.

Nearly 30 open blockchain roles are listed on the Facebook careers page. That number has grown steadily since late last year.

As noted by The Information Wednesday, a February acquisition of the blockchain startup Chainspace also added to Facebook’s crypto team – though the startup’s CEO only stayed on for a month.

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“Here’s a privacy project, that’s what I like,” Chainspace founder Dave Hrycyszyn told CoinDesk in May in a story about his new company.

Corresponding with previous reports from as early as December 2018, The Information, citing unnamed sources, says the Facebook cryptocurrency will be “designed to function as a borderless currency without transaction fees and will be aggressively marketed in developing nations where government-backed currencies are more volatile.”

The full timeline of everything we know about Facebook’s cryptocurrency can be found below.

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Facebook image via Shutterstock

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