Christian Catalini, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is on vacation and working on Facebook coin creation, Coindesk revealed on May 3. Facebook is supposedly building a stablecoin that will enable its billions of users to remit money and probably make online transactions. Two unnamed sources, knowing the scenario, told Coindesk about Catalini’s partnership with Facebook.
Catalini— MIT’s Theodore T. Miller Career Development Professor — is supposedly one of the leading scientists in token economic principles. He lately co-authored a document with Toronto University professor Joshua Gans on initial coin offerings and tokens valuation.
Earlier this week, reports surfaced that Facebook, the social media behemoth, is supposedly trying to obtain funding to the tune of $1bn for its cryptocurrency. Reports initially appeared in May 2018 that Facebook “explored” its own token.
Catalini was among the most influential scientists on token economic theory. He and University of Toronto lecturer Joshua Gans co-authored an impactful 2018 document on crypto tokens significance.
One of Catalini’s latest articles, authored with Stanford’s Susan Athey and MIT’s Catherine Tucker, is all about disconnecting the expressed desire of customers in protection of privacy and their obvious reluctance to give it back.
During the F8 developer conference Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said “I believe the future is private.”
In 2013, Catalini obtained his Ph.D. in Strategic Management from Toronto University. At the end of 2018, Bloomberg reported that Facebook is developing a crypto for customers of WhatsApp messaging service.
Then, a New York Times article in February said Facebook is “hoping to succeed where Bitcoin failed” with its closely guarded cryptocurrency venture. Catalini was among the leaders of the MIT Bitcoin Venture, raising $500 K to reward Bitcoin worth $100 to all MIT pupils in 2014.
