Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, revealed that he called one of his goats "Bitcoin". It would have apparently been an innocent announcement which, however, got the crypto sphere talking about the deeper meaning this might indicate. While some have rationalized this as an endorsement of Bitcoin (here the quotation in real time) from Facebook, others have suggested weirder theories.
Bitcoin: Mark Zuckerberg's goat
Zuckerberg revealed on Facebook that one of his goats is called "Bitcoin". This post, which is usually read as "funny", has convinced the cryptocurrency sphere to formulate strange theories. While some users laughed and spread their memes as a result, some thought there might be another meaning behind the post.
Some users took this as a hint that Facebook had or will follow in the footsteps of companies like Tesla and Microstrategy, buying Bitcoin as a hedge and adding it to its cash reserves. There were rumors about this last month, but Facebook rejected them during its latest earnings call, denying it had bought bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.
According to a story by Jack Dorsey, Zuckerberg's goats were not just pets, but food. He described how Zuckerberg would personally kill them, immobilizing the animals with a stun gun and then using a knife. Many users recalled this grisly incident, jokingly stating that Zuckerberg could kill Bitcoin at any time if he really wanted to.
Facebook's unhappy crypto journey
Seriously, Facebook's forays into the world of cryptocurrencies weren't particularly successful. In an effort to create its own cryptocurrency, first called Libra and later renamed Diem, the company has met with opposition from the global regulatory community. They claim that Facebook's unique encryption would give the social media giant too much power.
Launched with the support of big supporters, Libra's proposal has lost momentum. It was abandoned by some of its most prominent supporters, such as Visa, MasterCard and eBay, and then changed its proposal to become a basket of stablecoins. This is to allay the concerns of national and international legislators.
Zuckerberg was even summoned to Congress to explain the details of his proposal. It received a stern reaction from lawmakers, such as House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters. He criticized Facebook for its inability to solve existing problems and asked them to stop development until some kind of regulatory framework existed to cover the scope of Libra.
So, for the moment, the project seems to be shelved, but Zuckerberg is not the type to be easily discouraged. Most likely in the future Libra will come back or whatever name will be given to it. For now, let's just speculate as to whether he named his domestic goat Bitcoin. What do you think about it? What did he mean?
