Facebook Refutes Claims It’s Forking A Crypto On Stellar – What Are They Cooking ?

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Facebook Refutes Claims It’s Forking A Crypto On Stellar - What Are They Cooking ?
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A Facebook spokesperson has moved to quash claims that the company is contemplating building a cryptocurrency based on a Stellar fork. Speaking to Cheddar, the spokesperson also said that despite Facebook forming a cryptocurrency division, the said division has not had any discussions or reached out to Stellar about any partnership to create a blockchain or cryptocurrency.

David Marcus In The Mix

The conglomerate’s move to refute the claims come after Business Insider issued a report last week citing an unnamed source privy to inside information about the alleged plan by Facebook’s crypto division.  
The division is headed by David Marcus, the former head of Messenger. The report alleged that David had an interest in Stellar’s protocol that the division was planning to use to launch a proprietary cryptocurrency.
After Business Insider published the story, Marcus has since left the board of directors at Coinbase. Coinbase is a popular crypto exchange. He cited conflict of interest as the reason for his resignation from Coinbase’s board.
Explaining further, Marcus said that he had to leave Coinbase because of his role as head of Facebook’s cryptocurrency division and wished the team at Coinbase all the best in the future.
However, it’s the timing that has speculators scratching their heads. Facebook appointed Marcus to head the division back in March – something that led speculators to believe that the social media giant was cooking up something. Five months down the line, no one really knows what they’re planning. If they’re not forking a cryptocurrency from Stellar, what are they up to?

Still Shopping

According to one company representative, the crypto division is still shopping around for an appropriate base application for its blockchain project. The representative declined to share anything more.
On its part, Stellar has in the past helped social media companies create their blockchain using its fork. In fact, it helped the popular chat app Kik create and release its crypto named Kin.
Despite this veiled denial of a partnership with Facebook, Stellar’s token hasn’t taken a hit. On the contrary, the token has shot up by 1% at a time when many other popular cryptos are taking a dip. Ethereum alone has lost almost 11% in value.