Facebook is still on its hiring spree and this time around, it has poached Edward Bowles, the public affairs head of Standard Chartered Bank. The hiring is targeted at GlobalCoin, a cryptocurrency the social media company intends to announce later this month reports Financial Times on June 14, 2019.
Facebook Hires Edward Bowles to Join the Company in September
Based on the report, Facebook has hired Edward Bowles and he will be joining the company as its London-based director of public policy, in September this year. The hire is believed to be geared towards GlobalCoin by ensuring that preparations have been made for political and regulatory scrutiny from the EU regarding the virtual asset’s launch.
On the other hand, the media has noted that the news is yet-to-be-confirmed by Facebook, the Bank, and Bowles. The senior bank lobbyist’s LinkedIn page reveals that he is still working in the Standard Chartered Bank and Facebook is his interest.
Facebook Hires More Executives
It is also worthy to note that this is not the first hire by Facebook because Financial Times’ report reveals that the social media company had hired Nick Clegg, U.K’s former deputy prime minister to head its global affairs and communications team. A number of executives have also joined the social media company recently and among these are two former compliance managers at Coinbase.
This and many more are steps targeted at the launch of GlobalCoin, a virtual asset that will be used by over 2 billion users of Facebook. Reportedly, a European Facebook executive recently revealed that GlobalCoin’s whitepaper will be published on June 18, 2019.
Facebook GlobalCoin is Being Backed by Uber, Paypal, and Visa
Facebook’s yet-to-be-launched cryptocurrency, Globalcoin is being backed by Uber, PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard with millions. Other industry leaders are supporting the coin which is targeted at over 2 billion users around the world and could potentially accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrencies, according to the Wall Street Journal’s report on June 13, 2019.
Notable Companies Invest in Facebook’s GlobalCoin
Per the report, Uber, a ride-hailing giant, PayPal, a payment service provider, Visa and Mastercard, financial services corporations and a whole lot of industry leaders are backing Facebook’s cryptocurrency, Globalcoin. Each of them has invested $10 million into Libra, a consortium that will see to the full delivery of the virtual asset.
Other names that have been named as investors are Stripe, a technology company, MercadoLibre, an online marketplace company, and Booking.com, a travel reservations site. However, the list of investors has not been finalized since there is room to still make changes. More investors are also expected from a wide range of sectors including e-commerce, finance, venture capital, and telecoms industries.
GlobalCoin to be Announced Next Week
Globalcoin, on the other hand, will be announced next week and the product might come into effect in 2020. There has been a lot of speculation about it for the past six months since there’s very little people know about what it can do and how it will be governed. What’s certain, is that it is a stablecoin that will be utilized by people all over the world who use Facebook’s platforms.
While Globalcoin will differ from Bitcoin and some altcoins due to its centralized nature, the stablecoin also makes use of blockchain technology. The latter means several things for the cryptocurrency industry and one of such is legitimizing the crypto space which is mostly run by hype and speculation.
Moreover, a cryptocurrency being used on Facebook’s Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp can accelerate the adoption of Bitcoin and altcoins. This is because Facebook is targeting over 2 billion users around the world who will use GlobalCoin to make payments directly from its platforms.
