Major players in technology are embracing blockchain, and Facebook is not lagging behind. The company has reportedly appointed Evan Cheng, one of its senior engineers, as the Director of Engineering for its recently established blockchain division.
Empowering the blockchain sector.
Last May, David Marcus, the head of Facebook Messenger, hinted at his departure to explore blockchain technology applications.
«I’m assembling a small team to delve into the optimal utilization of Blockchain across Facebook, starting from scratch,» Marcus announced on his Facebook page. This announcement followed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s exploration of potential uses of cryptocurrencies for the platform, with Blockchain being the foundational technology behind popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Accompanying Marcus is another senior engineer from Facebook.
Committing to blockchain endeavors
With the relocation of a senior engineer to the blockchain division, the social media giant appears more committed than ever. Evan Cheng’s LinkedIn profile corroborates his new role as the Director of Engineering for Blockchain, a recent transition from his three-year tenure as the head of Programming Languages & Runtimes at Facebook.
Before joining Facebook, Cheng was associated with Apple, serving as a Senior Manager for Low-Level Tools, with expertise in reverse engineering and compilation technology. Cheng has a history of expressing interest in blockchain, having previously served as an advisor to various blockchain startups/projects such as ChainLink and Zilliqa.
«It signifies that Cheng’s promotion is not merely an exploratory initiative,» TechCrunch quoted a source familiar with the blockchain space. According to the same source, Cheng’s placement in the blockchain division underscores the project’s significance, given his expertise in scalability and performance.
As of the first quarter of 2018, Facebook boasts over 2 billion monthly active users worldwide, making it a likely target for security threats due to the wealth of valuable information it holds. Despite recent data breach scandals involving the collection and misuse of data from 87 million Facebook users for political campaigns, the number of monthly users increased by 13 percent compared to the first quarter of 2017. Recognizing the substantial impact of social media in today’s society, it is crucial for Facebook and similar platforms to devise ways to shield their users from unethical manipulation.
