Rumors that Facebook would be announcing Bitcoin investment were shattered on Wednesday following social media giants did not mention it in their earnings report for the first quarter of 2021.
Where the rumors began is not clear. During the hours leading to the publication of the report, several Social Media users had mentioned the alleged bitcoin investments.
Alain Milne, CIO of the Altana Digital Currency Fund, has alleged that it has been rumored that Facebook is announcing Bitcoin holdings on Tuesday in its Q1 report.
Milne then rejected that the gossip had begun and shared a snapshot of an email from someone at Lansdowne Partners, a UK company who reported that the Facebook speculation is “announcing BTC to their book.” It indicated that it had been sent on Tuesday morning. Lansdowne Partners have been asked by Newsweek for comment.
In the lead of the Facebook earnings release, Scott Melker, a blockchain enthusiast and a podcast host of almost 350,000 Twitter subscribers, wrote: “Speculation is going to be announced on their balance sheet. Bitcoin. It’s only just a rumor, so it’s not clear when this rumor began.”
In any event, in its first quarter profit report Facebook did not announce any interest in Bitcoin. It seems like Bitcoin’s price did not change much. On Wednesday afternoon it fell from about $55,800 to a small amount of $53,650, early on Thursday. It’s 1.4 percent down on day and valued about 54,400 dollars.
Darren Parkin, who was mentioned for the CityAM business magazine, told Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of the world’s largest social media firm that the speculation was prompted as possible endorsement of Bitcoin.
Instead, Facebook’s earnings report for the first quarter focuses on a marked rise from $17.4 billion in first quarter 2020 to $25,4 billion this year of 46 per cent in advertisement revenues.
Facebook commented that the company is “pleased” with its ad revenue growth but that targeted advertisements are anticipated to have a negative effect in 2021 as a result of regulatory and platform changes, “especially the recently released iOS 14.5 Update, which is expected to start impacting in the second quarter.”
On Wednesday afternoon, the Facebook stock was closed at $307, up 3.5%. It has increased 8 percent to $331 in pre-market trading.
Facebook plans to dabble in digital currency, however, because of a rebrand and regulatory resistance the process has been drafted up to date. The platform plans to launch this year’s pilot DEEM, the price of a digital coin that is linked to the U.S. dollar and an undisclosed source, CNBC announced this month. The Swiss Diem Association has been established.
Diem and Facebook were asked for comment by Newsweek.
Meanwhile, this year Bitcoin has risen in prices as cryptocurrencies have generally been supported by financial technology companies such as Visa and PayPal.
For example, Tesla began to let clients buy a car with Bitcoin, announced last month by CEO Elon Musk.
