FB’s blockchain group now has 40 employees including a half-dozen ex-PayPal executives that Marcus poached from his former employer, Cheddar reported.
The secretive unit includes people who have worked on Google Pay and Samsung Pay,a mobile payment and digital wallet service from Samsung the world’s largest manufacturer of semiconductors and smartphones.
“They’ve been very quiet about what they’ve been working on, very stealthy,” said Cheddar’s Alex Heath .
Facebook is also considering launching a cryptocurrency that would enable its 2 billion users around the world to make electronic payments without the need for a traditional bank.
Accordingly, Facebook is trying to hire crypto-savvy engineers,product managers, academics, and legal experts to expand its blockchain group.
“They’re also trying to scoop up crypto start-ups that are at the white-paper level, which means they don’t really even have a product yet.”
Health said Facebook is in hot pursuit of gifted recruits because the talent pool is relatively shallow since the crypto ecosystem is still in its infancy.
“The talent in this industry is so finite, and there are so many big players wanting these talented cryptographers and academics,” Heath said.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologized for the debacle, but the damage to his credibility and to Facebook’s brand continues to reverberate.
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