The proposal was put forth by investor Ethan Peck, on behalf of the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR). The proposal suggested that Meta should consider converting a segment of its cash and bond assets into Bitcoin, arguing it could better safeguard shareholder value.

As of the end of September 2024, Meta held $72 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities. The proposal argues that these assets are being diminished by inflation and low yields, viewing Bitcoin as a more stable long-term value store given its fixed supply and historical performance relative to bonds.

The proposal also highlighted the growing trend of Bitcoin adoption by institutions, citing Strategy’s robust Bitcoin acquisitions, BlackRock’s 2% Bitcoin allocation endorsement, and speculation about potential US federal and state-level Bitcoin reserves in 2025.

Despite these points, Meta’s board of directors voted against the resolution, labeling it as unnecessary. The board argued that Meta already has a comprehensive treasury management process in place that prioritizes capital preservation and liquidity to sustain operations. In their view, there is no need for a separate evaluation focused on Bitcoin.

While the NCPPR has advocated for several major corporations, including Microsoft and Amazon, to adopt Bitcoin as a treasury asset, none of these efforts have proven successful to date.

Nevertheless, an increasing number of publicly traded companies are incorporating Bitcoin into their treasury strategies. There is also a rising trend of major corporations and industry players collaborating to launch Bitcoin-centric ventures, focusing on Bitcoin accumulation and infrastructure development.

Although Bitcoin may not be on Meta’s immediate agenda, the company seems to be showing a renewed interest in stablecoins, in line with its ongoing push into AI. As reported by Forbes, Meta has been exploring the integration of stablecoins into its platforms for global payouts and has held preliminary discussions with crypto infrastructure firms.

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Currently, Meta does not seem to have a specific stablecoin in focus. In a noteworthy move, the company recently recruited Ginger Baker, a former Ripple executive, as vice president of product. There are also reports of Meta reaching out to crypto infrastructure firms to explore ways of reducing fees associated with cross-border payments.

Meta’s renewed interest in integrating stablecoins coincides with a more crypto-friendly stance from U.S. regulators following President Trump’s inauguration. Tech giants, banks, and stablecoin issuers are all vying to influence the future regulatory landscape for stablecoins in the United States.

Back in 2019, Meta, then known as Facebook, initiated its foray into the world of stablecoins with the creation of the Libra division. The division aimed to support a dollar-pegged digital asset backed by a basket of fiat currencies. Unfortunately, regulatory issues hindered the plans and forced the company to abandon the project. The Libra division was subsequently renamed Diem in December 2020, in a bid to distance itself from its tarnished image.

Despite these setbacks, Meta has not completely withdrawn from the crypto arena. Over the past two years, the company has filed trademark applications for projects related to digital assets, such as crypto trading, blockchain-focused hardware, and digital asset exchange services. This move has however, sparked concerns among lawmakers, including California Democrat Maxine Waters.

As of May 8, the total supply of stablecoins stands at $232.14 billion, largely made up of Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC, according to data from The Block’s Data Dashboard.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

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“To secure our position in the AI race, it’s crucial for the US to make significant strides in open source, and Llama 4 has allowed us to regain our leading position,” expressed Sacks in an X post dated April 5. This comes amid the increasing speculations surrounding the fierce competition for the top spot in the global AI race between the USA and China.

Having been vocal about the AI race since assuming his role after former US President Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, Sacks stated with certainty that he is “confident about the US’s prospects, but complacency is not an option.”

Meta’s AI division disclosed in an X post on the same day that they are rolling out the fourth iteration of their Llama models, Llama 4 Scout and Llama 4 Maverick. As per Meta, these models are “our most sophisticated models to date and lead their class in multimodality.”

The Llama 4 Scout model by Meta boasts of 17 billion active parameters and utilizes 16 experts. Meta asserts that it surpasses its competitors — Gemma 3, Gemini 2.0 Flash-lite, and Mistral 3.1 — “across a wide array of widely recognized benchmarks.” The Llama 4 Maverick model also possesses 17 billion active parameters but is equipped with 128 experts. It is claimed to outperform GPT-4o and Gemini 2.0 Flash “across a wide array of widely recognized benchmarks.”

In July 2024, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg predicted that by 2025, Llama models would evolve to be “the most advanced in the sector.” Since the release of the limited version of Llama 1 in February 2023, Meta has been overwhelmed by the demand, receiving over 100,000 requests for access.

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Sandeep Rao, a senior researcher at Leverage Shares, highlighted that recent developments in AI have not significantly cut down human labor costs, contrary to earlier promises. Investors, disillusioned by these unmet expectations, are reconsidering their long-term investment strategies. AI-heavy firms have yet to deliver on the anticipated cost savings, leading to a potential shift in investor interest towards other promising stocks.

Investors may begin repositioning themselves, looking beyond the tech giants that have dominated the market in search of new opportunities that promise better returns in the long term.

The post Tech Giants Facing Setbacks as AI Progress Falls Short of Expectations appeared first on Crypto Market Insights: Dive In with CryptoUpdate.io.

In-app purchases of the NFTs will soon be available to Instagram users. According to Meta, it will work the same way on iOS and Android: via regular in-app purchases. Also, Instagram is not yet collecting a portion of creative earnings. This new functionality is being tested with a select number of creators in the United States, with future intentions to roll it out internationally.

Instagram now works with the Solana blockchain and the Phantom wallet. It already worked with the Rainbow blockchain, MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Coinbase Wallet, Dapper Wallet, Ethereum, Polygon, and Flow. When OpenSea improves the metadata of Instagram posts, users can now see more information, like the name and description of a collection.

Along with the changes to the NFT, Instagram is letting all qualified U.S. authors join as members. In January, the social media platform started a limited beta test of subscriptions with a select group of content providers. In addition to their regular Instagram content, producers may charge their fans to watch Instagram Live videos and Instagram Stories. A subscriber’s unique badge will make them stand out in the creators’ comment threads and email inboxes.

Meta also shared that Facebook would be expanding the availability of Stars, a program that allows content producers to get direct payments from their audiences on Facebook’s Reels, Live, and videos. Facebook is also planning to try out a feature called “automatic onboarding,” which would enable artists to immediately get feedback in the form of star ratings. Besides videos, Facebook is expanding Stars to other forms of content.

Facebook is releasing a new feature called Stars Party for users of the Stars platform. If the challenge’s author accomplishes their objective, the Stars community will throw a party to celebrate.

In addition, Facebook is equipping content producers with new ways to interact with Star recipients. To respond to several comments at once, authors may apply a filter to Remarks Manager that collects all of their star comments in one spot.

Meta also said that Instagram Gifts would be coming out, starting with Reels, to give content creators more ways to make money. Fans can now buy stars on Instagram and use them to give each other presents on reels. Initially, only a select number of American artists will have access to this functionality. But Meta has plans to roll it out to a much larger community shortly.

Meta is also giving all content producers the option to set their Facebook profiles to “professional mode.” Creators who want to make money off of their social media followings should switch to “professional mode.” In December 2021, Facebook started testing a “professional mode” with a small group of creators.

Meta is making these changes because it knows that creator subscriptions and other ways could give it a new way to make money. That’s why the company wants to cultivate its user base of content creators.

With these changes, Instagram hopes to better compete with rival platforms like TikTok, which has been gaining popularity among content producers. Not surprisingly, Meta wants to add more services for creators because it needs their help to keep growing the metaverse.

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