Mark Zuckerberg declares his interest in cryptocurrencies

Could Facebook ever integrate some cryptocurrencies into its platform - or even create its own digital currency? This is the issue that has been on the agenda since Mark Zuckerberg said he intends to study this technology closely.

Mark Zuckerberg discusses the centralization of the Web

Since 2009, the creator of Facebook presents each year "a personal challenge". It is a question of choosing a task that may seem complex, and to commit publicly to devote oneself to it.

In a post published on the evening of Thursday, Marc Zuckerberg explained that this time he was serious about the issue of centralization.

In what can be apprehended as a self-criticism, the developer points out the harmful effects of the centralization of the Web. While the new technologies seemed, initially, to be a lever to promote decentralization and give back power to all, it would rather be the opposite that would have happened - with an internet controlled by a handful of "giants" .

Here's what Mark Zuckerberg said:

"For example, one of the most interesting questions about technology today is the opposition between centralization and decentralization. Many of us have turned to technology because we thought it could be a decentralizing force that puts power in the hands of individuals [ed .: the first words of Facebook's motto have always been "Empowering individuals"]. During the 1990s and 2000s, most people felt that technology could be a decentralizing force.

But today, many people no longer believe in this promise. With the emergence of a small number of large tech companies - and the government's use of technology to spy on citizens - many people now believe that technology centralizes power rather than decentralizing it.

Facebook had to face many criticisms in 2017. The tech giant had been accused of not doing enough to fight against "fake news". Not long ago, Chamath Palihapitiya, the former vice president of growth, explained that the company had "created tools that destroy the social fabric".

The platform, which lists 2 billion monthly active users, is also regularly accused of arrogating a large part of the advertising revenue of the web.

For 2018, Zuckerberg intends to study some topics that could reduce the centralization of the web. Among them, he quotes "encryption and cryptocurrencies":

There are counter-trends to this - such as encryption and cryptocurrencies -

that take the power of centralized systems to put them back into the hands of individuals.
But these imply a risk, that of being more difficult to control. I would like to go further and study the positive and negative aspects of these technologies, to see how we can best use them through our services.

The young billionaire hopes that his company will manage to "self-improve" in 2018:

"This will be a decisive year of self-improvement, and I look forward to finding out how we can solve these problems together," he concluded.

If Facebook decided to turn to crypto-currencies, we can assume that this could considerably promote their adoption. The threshold of $ 750 billion, which was crossed last night by this market, could then be just the beginning.