--- title: "Facebook Secretly Working on Virtual Currency Dubbed “Zuck Bucks”" description: "Facebook parent company Meta is looking to cash in with \"Zuck Bucks\" now that Facebook's popularity has finally turned a corner." date: "2022-04-07" modified: "2022-04-07" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-virtual-currency-zuck-bucks" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "facebook" - "Meta" - "nfts" - "the digest" --- # Facebook Secretly Working on Virtual Currency Dubbed “Zuck Bucks” ![Facebook parent company Meta is looking to cash in with "Zuck Bucks" now that Facebook's popularity has finally turned a corner.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## Zuck Bucks Facebook parent company Meta is looking for other ways to cash in, now that Facebook's popularity [may be waning](). One effort explored by Meta's Financial Technologies team is a virtual currency for the company's metaverse, a project that's been dubbed "Zuck Bucks" by employees, the [*Financial Times* reports](), in an homage to CEO [slash all-seeing overlord]() Mark Zuckerberg. It's notable, considering Facebook's last efforts to develop a virtual currency called Diem [backfired spectacularly]() after being launched in 2019, with governments around the world [condemning the idea]() given the company's global reach and influence. ## Rep Tokens But interestingly, Meta isn't looking to base such a currency on a blockchain, as is the case for most if not all other cryptocurrencies in circulation. Instead, the company is looking to create "social tokens" or "reputation tokens," according to *FT*, which could be offered as rewards to moderators or other users who make meaningful contributions to Facebook's communities. In other words, Meta may be attempting to distance itself from having to moderate Facebook's countless communities and allow them to more effectively moderate themselves, as *FT* suggests. ## NFTs Everywhere Meta, however, hasn't given up on decentralizing some of its products. While this particular project isn't based on a blockchain, [Zuckerberg confirmed]() the company is looking into integrating NFTs into its Instagram app "in the near term" last month. A pilot project for NFTs on Facebook is also in the works, according to *FT*. While Meta is still enormous, Facebook's user base [started to shrink]() for the first time in the company's history back in February. The news wiped out [hundreds of billions of dollars]() worth of Meta shares, a sign that investors may be growing wary of the company's long term relevance. The [lackluster launch]() of a disappointing VR app-based sandbox called Horizon Worlds has only added to the problem. Whether any of that will leave enough appetite for "Zuck Bucks," designed to let Facebook off the hook when it comes to content moderation — especially given its [disastrous track record]() — remains to be seen. **READ MORE:** [Facebook owner Meta targets finance with ‘Zuck Bucks’ and creator coins]() \[*Financial Times*\] **More on Meta:** *[Mark Zuckerberg Says That When Employees Call Him the "Eye of Sauron," It's Actually a Compliment]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()