Mark Zuckerberg Planning Virtual Currencies for Metaverse, team working on "Zuck Bucks"

CoingapePublished on 2022-04-07Last updated on 2022-04-07

Abstract

Last year, Facebook rebranded itself as Meta suggesting its biggest shift into the world of Metaverse.

Last year, Facebook rebranded itself as Meta suggesting its biggest shift into the world of Metaverse. As per the latest news, Meta Inc (NASDAQ: FB) is planning to introduce virtual coins, tokens, and lending services to its apps.
As per the report from Financial Times, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg is exploring alternative revenue streams to attract and retain users. The company’s financial arm – Meta Financial Technologies – is looking to introduce a virtual currency to its Metaverse. As per people familiar with the matter, Meta’s internal employees have dubbed it “Zuck Bucks” for the time being.
However, the sources said that this won’t be a blockchain-based cryptocurrency. Instead, Meta is focusing on in-app tokens which it can control centrally. This is similar to the introduction of Roblox currency by the gaming app Roblox.
Thus, Meta is also working on creating “social tokens” or “reputation tokens” as a means of rewarding Facebook users and groups for their meaningful contributions. Another plan is to have “creator coins” associated with particular influencers on its photo-sharing app Instagram. Earlier this year, Meta’s finance division Stephane Kasriel said:
“We’re making changes to our product strategy and road map . . . so we can prioritise on building for the metaverse and on what payments and financial services will look like in this digital world.”
NFT sharing Feature Coming to Facebook by Mid-May
Mark Zuckerberg has been bullish about non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and believes that they could serve as potential means of transacting digital goods and commerce in the Metaverse. Zuckerberg has also confirmed that they would add support for NFTs in the company’s Instagram app.
Now people familiar with the matter said that Meta might launch a pilot for posting and sharing NFTs on Facebook by mid-May 2022. It will later test a feature for allowing Facebook Group memberships for NFT owners as well as for minting new NFTs. Sources said that Facebook could allow monetizing NFTs via “fees and/or ads” in the future.
Well, it won’t be for the first time that Facebook is venturing into the world of virtual currencies. Back in 2019, Facebook planned for its Libra cryptocurrency, however, dropped the project after strong regulatory backlash.

From 'Old Dogs' to 'New Darlings': How AI is Revaluing Old Infrastructure, from Dell to Nokia

"Old Dogs" Become AI's New Darlings: Revaluing Legacy Infrastructure The AI investment narrative is shifting. Beyond the spotlight on core chipmakers like Nvidia, a new wave of interest is rising for legacy tech companies—Dell, HPE, Nokia, Cisco, Corning, Western Digital—once labeled as slow-growth, outdated stories. This resurgence stems from AI's evolution from model development to real-world deployment, creating massive demand for physical infrastructure. As AI moves into data center construction and enterprise adoption, the focus turns to who can actually build and deliver complex systems. These established players hold decades of experience in supply chains, integration, networking, and enterprise delivery—assets now critical for scaling AI. The revaluation can be grouped into three key infrastructure areas: 1. **Servers & Integration (e.g., Dell, HPE):** They are becoming essential system integrators, transforming GPUs into full-scale AI servers with networking, power, and cooling, then delivering them to clients. Strong recent earnings and AI-specific revenue/order growth for Dell and HPE underscore this shift. 2. **Networking & Connectivity (e.g., Corning, Nokia, Cisco):** As AI clusters grow, high-speed data transfer becomes paramount. Corning benefits from fiber demand for data center links, Nokia is exploring AI-integrated wireless networks (AI-RAN), and Cisco sees surging orders for data center switches—all critical for efficient AI operations. 3. **Storage (e.g., Western Digital, Seagate):** The AI data explosion requires vast capacity. Beyond high-speed memory (HBM), there's growing need for high-capacity HDDs to store training data, logs, video, and cold/archival data cost-effectively. This revaluation, however, is not a blanket endorsement. True reassessment requires concrete proof: AI-driven orders and revenue growth, upward revisions to company guidance, and sustainable improvements in profit quality, not just top-line sales. In essence, AI is not turning all old tech firms into high-growth stocks; it is selectively re-pricing the "old assets" of companies that are mission-critical for building the new AI infrastructure, transforming their legacy capabilities into renewed growth engines.

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From 'Old Dogs' to 'New Darlings': How AI is Revaluing Old Infrastructure, from Dell to Nokia

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The Bitcoin Roadmap To $500,000: Analyst Shows How Price Will Get There

An analyst projects Bitcoin could reach $500,000 based on technical chart analysis, mapping out a multi-phase roadmap within a long-term ascending channel. The analyst, Crypto Tice, states Bitcoin has completed the first phase ("First touch") of the pattern and is entering a second phase that could trigger its strongest rally yet, potentially driving a more than 693% increase from current levels above $63,000. This would be followed by a final pullback. This outlook comes as Bitcoin faces significant selling pressure, having fallen 17% over three days to around $61,300, erasing roughly $250 billion in market cap. The downturn has also impacted other major cryptocurrencies like Ethereum. Despite the crypto market decline, U.S. equities remain near highs, creating a notable divergence that some suggest could indicate market manipulation or crypto front-running a potential stock market correction.

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The Bitcoin Roadmap To $500,000: Analyst Shows How Price Will Get There

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Expected $1 Billion Crypto Windfall Shrinks To Fraction In Israel Disclosure Program

Israel's voluntary crypto disclosure program has seen a much weaker response than expected, with only 58 individuals coming forward. Tax authorities had projected up to $1 billion in revenue from the initiative, but early reports indicate declared crypto capital totals only about $50 million. The program offered immunity from criminal charges for correcting past reporting errors, but its lack of an anonymous option reportedly deterred many holders who feared putting their names on record. With an estimated $1 billion in digital assets held by Israeli residents, the disclosures so far represent only a small fraction of the market. The filing window, which has specific conditions and runs until August 2026, remains open.

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Breaking News! Anthropic Calls for a Universal Pause in AI Research

Anthropic warns of AI self-evolution, reporting that over 80% of its internal code is now written by its AI, Claude. Productivity has surged, with engineers merging 8x more code than in 2024. Claude's performance on complex, open-ended tasks jumped from 26% to 76% success in six months, nearing human parity. The company introduces a new metric: "AI task duration." In 2024, AI handled 4-minute tasks; by 2026, it manages 16-hour tasks, with capability doubling every 4 months. Claude also reviews code, catching bugs that previously caused outages, and significantly outperforms humans in research tasks like optimizing code (52x speedup) and conducting AI safety experiments. Anthropic outlines three potential futures: 1) Progress plateaus, 2) AI accelerates but humans remain in control, or 3) AI achieves full recursive self-improvement (RSI), designing its own successors. This final path could revolutionize fields like medicine but also risks catastrophic alignment failure if control is lost. The call echoes similar concerns from OpenAI. Anthropic proposes a coordinated pause on AI development—if a verifiable mechanism to ensure all labs comply can be established.

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Probability in the Price: How World Cup Odds Are Calculated

**The Probability in the Price: How World Cup Odds Are Calculated** Two major systems released their "championship probabilities" before the 2026 World Cup, and they disagreed on the favorite. Prediction market aggregators listed France at around **17%**, while the Opta supercomputer gave European champion Spain **16.1%**. These numbers look similar, but their production methods are fundamentally different. The market's **17%** is the **price** that clears after hundreds of millions of dollars in trading across platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi, where contracts trade between 0 and 100 cents, directly representing implied probability. This liquidity is provided by crypto-native market makers like Wintermute, though the market still has "the liquidity profile of an early-stage" asset class. In contrast, Opta's **16.1%** is a **simulated frequency**. Its model uses team data (including betting market odds as an input) to estimate match probabilities, then runs **10,000 full tournament simulations**, counting how often each team wins. Which is more accurate? There is **no rigorous, cross-tournament academic study** directly comparing their track records. However, a persistent **longshot bias**—where low-probability outcomes are systematically overvalued—observed in traditional betting for nearly a century, has also been found in modern crypto prediction markets. Research shows low-price contracts on Kalshi/Polymer less likely to pay out than their implied odds suggest. Unlike traditional bookmakers, prediction markets operate on **public blockchain ledgers**, making every transaction auditable and enabling such research. However, price formation is also influenced by **regulatory uncertainty**, as seen in recent US state-level bans and legal battles over jurisdiction. In summary, the "probability" you see is either a **market-clearing price** subject to behavioral biases and liquidity constraints, or a **model-simulated frequency** that partially incorporates market data. The question of which method is more reliable remains open, highlighting the importance of asking: **How was this number produced?**

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