Zuck Bucks, yes, really, will be Meta's Metaverse currency


Facebook's history with Digital currency hasn't gone as well as CEO Mark Zuckerberg has hoped. After plans to create a proper cryptocurrency went south, the company is working on a non-crypto alternative: Zuck Bucks.

Reported by The Financial Times, Facebook parent company Meta is working on a new digital currency. Expected to be designed for its in-development metaverse, the currency will be used to purchase a wide array of digital items.

What are Zuck Bucks?

According to the report, Zuck Bucks are designed to be “in-app tokens that would be centrally controlled by [Meta]”. Similar to currencies like V-Bucks or Robux, the Meta money will only be usable across its numerous platforms.

This currency could end up becoming a major part of the company's metaverse projects. At the time of writing, Meta’s metaverse is a crude VR playground. However, the company wants to eventually make a platform where people play, work and live inside VR. How very dystopian of them.

If Meta’s metaverse is successful, then the cringily-named Zuck Bucks will be used for everything. You need a new outfit, you'll pay for it with that currency. If you want to upgrade your virtual living space, then Mark Zuckerbucks will be needed.

Additionally, Zuck Bucks could be used to purchase new hardware from Meta, such as upgrading your VR headset. This works in a similar way to Steam credit which lets you purchase anything from digital trading cards to HTC Vives.

Lastly, users of Facebook’s metaverse should be able to earn the virtual currency. Just like Roblox, creators of high-ranking experiences are expected to be able to earn virtual currency to spend on more items. This will allow the company to feed profit continually into its services.

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Meta isn't done with crypto

Of course, Zuck Bucks are not Meta’s only big monetary plans in the works. For example, the same report mentions that the company is aiming to introduce more traditional financial services. This means that the company is actually looking to offer monetary schemes like loans.

Additionally, the company hasn’t abandoned crypto. While Facebook may not be able to create its own cryptocurrency, it's still looking to act on other aspects of the crypto industry. For example, NFTs.

According to the report, Meta is looking to introduce NFTs to Facebook. Apparently, the company will trial its NFT launch in mid-May. Afterwards, it will test “membership of Facebook groups based on NFT ownership and another for minting”.

Meta has a lot of plans to grow into the future, especially with its metaverse in active development. But will all of the company's plans work out? Or will there be a fresh pile of failures on Zuckerberg’s lap sometime soon?

For more articles like this, take a look at our Metaverse and News page.