Facebook is looking for VCs to pour $1 billion into its new stablecoin, says Nathaniel Popper

According to a tweet from The New York Times journalist Nathaniel Popper, sources said Facebook is now looking for VC firms to fund its stablecoin project, "targeting as much as $1 billion." 

Popper suggests that getting outside stakeholders to back the coin would allow the project to be viewed as "more decentralized and less controlled by Facebook."

"One person I spoke with said that Facebook is talking about using the money as collateral for its cryptocurrency, pegged to a basket of foreign currencies held in bank accounts," he wrote in the thread.

Initially reported in December by Bloomberg, Facebook’s blockchain team has apparently been developing a stablecoin for payments within WhatsApp. More recently, the Times published a report showing the surprising speed of development of Facebook’s stablecoin, of which Facebook has reportedly held talks with exchanges about listing the asset.