Did Facebook buy bitcoin? There is a rumor moving about online that the world’s biggest social media platform may have added the biggest digital currency by market cap to its balance sheet.
There Is Talk That Facebook Bought BTC
While at the time of writing these ideas are unproven, Facebook adding bitcoin to its playbook would be both surprising and unsurprising at the same time. For one thing, many largest institutions have been purchasing the digital currency in droves over the past several months, the most notable being companies such as MicroStrategy and Tesla. Both have bought well over $1 billion each of the globe’s number one digital currency by market, though the former has set a precedent that many smaller family offices have been trying to emulate since late 2020.
Following MicroStrategy first entering the bitcoin arena, several additional companies – from payment firm Square to insurance enterprise Massachusetts Mutual – have sought to buy up BTC like there was no tomorrow. At press time, each of these latter mentioned companies own more than $100 million in BTC. With so many largescale firms rushing to garner bitcoin for themselves, it would not be that shocking if Facebook decided to join the ranks.
At the same time, it would be a bit of a conundrum in the sense that Facebook, for some time now, has been working hard to develop its own cryptocurrency – a journey that practically failed in almost every way. While the firm is not yet giving up on this dream, it is hard to assume that anyone can find joy or intrigue in this story anymore.
Initially known as Libra, the currency was first announced in the summer of 2019 – nearly two years ago. While the asset was set to be ready by the following year, it was ultimately held back thanks to several regulatory barricades that prevented it from really going anywhere. Following these hurdles, the coronavirus pandemic stepped into the fray and stopped many businesses – Facebook included – from reaching potential goals and hitting certain targets given the closures they were forced to endure.
Is This the End of Libra?
Now, two years after its initial announcement, Libra has been renamed “Diem” and is still not available for trading. If Facebook were to really buy bitcoin, it would likely mean one of two things: the first is that the company is still looking to fully establish its own cryptocurrency and is potentially buying bitcoin as a means of studying the asset and giving Diem some of BTC’s properties.
The other scenario would suggest that Facebook is packing up its crypto bags, at least for the time being, and simply buying bitcoin “in defeat.” In other words, it realizes it cannot compete with the asset and is now hoping to just get rich off it like so many other firms.