Facebook (FB) announced Friday that it has formed a new company called ‘Meta’. The news comes as the Senate is set to vote on stronger privacy protections for Facebook users, following significant scrutiny of the social network’s data practices. The metaverse will be a 3D virtual world that will be 'more immersive'.

The House passed new privacy legislation this week. It will require companies like Facebook to get their users' permission before they can share their personal information with advertisers.

The new company is led by Meron Gribetz, who has been described as a "reality visionary." When asked about what its business strategy will be, Facebook said it's focusing on hardware and software development through the lens of augmented reality (AR). CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the 3D world would include NFTs.

"It’s going to take ecosystem building, norm setting, and new forms of governance and this is something that we’re really going to focus on,” Zuckerberg said.

Pundi X has been building out a network of retail devices over the past couple years. The company has a goal of enabling "any store to buy, sell and accept cryptocurrency as payment." The company's initial plan was for consumers to spend their digital tokens on everyday items from groceries to transportation. Now it seems Facebook is pushing NFTs into that same physical, real-world realm.

**Privacy will be built in Facebook Metaverse from "day one"**
--------------------------------------------------------------

Zuckerberg assured the public that privacy and safety will be built into the metaverse along with interoperability.

He reiterated; "Privacy and safety need to be built into the metaverse from day one.”

And so we've gone from a world of isolated VR headsets, to one where we will have our own token economy that locks us into an all-encompassing social metaverse. This isn't science fiction anymore. What used to feel like the distant future is now just around the corner.



Facebook Metaverse Will Feature NFTs

US lawmakers have urged Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg to ditch his company’s cryptocurrency plans.

It was announced recently that Novi, a digital wallet, will enter a trial period in Guatemala, allowing cryptocurrency payments. Facebook is also reported to have revived plans to launch a cryptocurrency called Diem.

A letter signed by five Democratic Senators was sent to Zuckerberg outlining concerns about Facebook’s involvement in crypto, and demanding digital currency projects are discontinued.

The letter concludes: ‘Facebook cannot be trusted to manage a payment system or digital currency when its existing ability to manage risks and keep consumers safe has proven wholly insufficient.

## 'Immediately Discontinue Nivot Pilot'

‘We urge you to immediately discontinue your Novi pilot and to commit that you will not bring Diem to market.’

The letter from Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) reads: ‘We write to voice our strongest opposition to Facebook’s revived effort to launch a cryptocurrency and digital wallet, now branded “Diem” and “Novi,” respectively. In October 2019, Senators Schatz and Brown wrote to members of the Diem Association’s predecessor, the Libra Association, and expressed deep concerns about the risks the project posed to consumers and the financial system. Facebook subsequently shelved Libra amid regulatory scrutiny, but you did not address our concerns before resuming this endeavour.

‘On multiple occasions, Facebook has committed not to launch a digital currency absent federal financial regulators’ approval. In prepared remarks before the House Financial Services Committee in October 2019, you said that Facebook would “not be a part of launching the Libra payments system anywhere in the world unless all US regulators approve it.” More recently, David Marcus, the executive overseeing Facebook’s digital currency efforts, said, “\[w\]e are definitely not going to launch without the proper regulatory framework.”

‘Despite these assurances, Facebook is once again pursuing digital currency plans on an aggressive timeline and has already launched a pilot for a payments infrastructure network, even though these plans are incompatible with the actual financial regulatory landscape - not only for Diem specifically, but also for stablecoins in general. The agencies that oversee the US financial system are studying the risks that stablecoins pose to financial stability. Accordingly, they are considering how to address these inherent risks and clarify regulation and supervision of these products.’

## 'Facebook Cannot be Trusted'

It continues: ‘You have not offered a satisfactory explanation for how Diem will prevent illicit financial flows and other criminal activity. The intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force warned in a report to the G-20 finance ministers that stablecoins’ “propensity for mass-adoption makes them more vulnerable to be used by criminals and terrorists to launder their proceeds of crime and finance their terrorist activities.” The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets said in December 2020 that stablecoins “are likely to attract illicit actors and, without appropriate mitigation measures, allow evasion of key public policy objectives.”

‘Facebook cannot be trusted to manage a payment system or digital currency when its existing ability to manage risks and keep consumers safe has proven wholly insufficient. We urge you to immediately discontinue your Novi pilot and to commit that you will not bring Diem to market.’

[CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/world/?region=world) carried responses issued on behalf of Facebook and Diem.

The broadcaster said Facebook claims to have already addressed many of the concerns raised by the senators. The social media giant had said that Novi and Facebook accounts are kept separately to ensure privacy and protection and added that the wallet was built to be completely secure.

## Privacy Top of Mind for Customers

The statement is reported to say: ‘We know privacy is top of mind for Novi customers, so it will always be top of mind for us. We prioritise the security and privacy of people’s information by encrypting sensitive financial information'. If we determine a transaction is unauthorised, we provide a full refund back to a person’s Novi balance. People’s Novi accounts and Facebook accounts are separate.’

CNBC added that Diem had highlighted it is not part of Facebook, which is just one of two dozen members of the Diem Association. The association is a network of ‘merchants, payment service providers, social impact partners, and other entities’ that are ‘dedicated to building a blockchain-based payment system that supports financial innovation, inclusion, and integrity’.

A statement carried by CNBC adds: ‘Diem welcomes the opportunity to engage with members of Congress on the robust controls we have spent two years building into our payment system.

‘Unfortunately, today's letter from lawmakers to Facebook misunderstands the relationship between Diem and Facebook. Diem is not Facebook. We are an independent organisation, and Facebook's Novi is just one of more than two dozen members of the Diem Association. Novi's pilot with Paxos is unrelated to Diem.’



Facebook Should 'Discontinue' Crypto Projects

Former Facebook employee and Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen, has said that she is financially supporting herself due to crypto investments she has made. She told [The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/) that for the foreseeable future, she will be fine as she invested in crypto at 'the right time.'

In a phone interview with Cheddar, Haugen said that when she first heard of cryptocurrencies from her brother in 2017 she thought they were 'absolutely crazy'. As a result, she went to a meetup with him and was surprised by how many people loved the idea of cryptocurrency. She said:

"I couldn't understand it because I didn't get it. But I think everybody gets this, like, 'what is money,' right? It's just something that we use to trade and barter with, but the technology behind it is what's really interesting."

## 'Facebook Prioritise Growth'

37-year-old Haugen recently accused her former employer, Facebook, of prioritising growth over safety. She said:

"I do not think that Facebook has prioritised privacy overgrowth. I feel like there are some leaders within the company who have, but for me, it's always been that data privacy and security are foundational to the success of our business."

The data scientist admitted that she has some concerns over the future of her career. However, she said that the investments she made in crypto are enough to support her for now.

"It's a big risk for me," she explained, "but I've been living a frugal lifestyle and investing in crypto since 2015 so that I could feel secure in my ability to leave the industry if I decided to. For now, that security is enough."

For more Business news, see [here](/news/category/crypto-business-news). 



FB Whistleblower Supporting Herself with Crypto

Yesterday’s 24 hour outage of centralised service providers [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/), WhatsApp and Instagram had many in the crypto space calling for the advent of Web 3.0 as fast as reasonably possible.

## What is Web 3.0?

But what exactly is Web 3.0, why is it relevant and how does it fit with blockchain, cryptocurrency and the decentralised economy?

Web 3.0 is essentially the next evolutionary step in the development of what we know commonly as ‘the internet.’ If web 1.0 was the message board era which only allowed one way interaction then Web 2.0 saw the advent of user led content and the inevitable rise of social media.

Web 3.0 can therefore be defined as ‘the machine based understanding and management of data in order to provide a user driven and semantic internet experience.’ Ok, that doesn’t sound like the most exciting raison d’etre I agree, however when you consider the aim of a web 3.0 based society is to create a more intelligent, connected and open internet it begins to make a little more sense.

## Web 2.0 vs Web 3.0

The essential difference between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 is that in their third iteration websites and applications will be _written_ by artificial intelligence and machine learning in order to provide consumer led content in a style which is both personal and pleasing. This in turn will lead to the provision of a faster, more innovative and more personal end user experience.

Naturally, this new internet will be decentralised and will rely heavily on peer to peer led networks facilitating, among other things, the rise of new payment infrastructure, supply chains and unimaginable levels of personal security.

Centralised corporate giants such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have no choice but to adapt in order to survive as the internet once again returns to its customer driven and consumer led intended purpose.

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