Mark Zuckerberg Uses Blockchain For His Own Ends
Crypto-evangelists hoped digital currencies would challenge Big Tech’s control of personal data. But Facebook has other plans for the technology.
Facebook's founder is no crypto-evangelist.
Photographer: GERARD JULIEN/AFPThe idea that a company as powerful and autocratic as Facebook Inc. would ever dive into crypto-currencies has always seemed a bit like the Death Star deciding to throw a staff Christmas party.
Whether it’s the Bitcoin model itself (Wild West capitalism where nobody’s in charge) or the more corporate-friendly efforts to exploit the blockchain approach (distributed databases across networks within a business or industry) it’s been hard to see how a billionaire like Mark Zuckerberg might find a use for it. His entire business depends on centrally harvesting data to sell ads at a profit.