MARK Zuckerberg has hinted that Facebook could be getting its own version of Bitcoin very soon.

The Facebook founder teased his interest in so-called cryptocurrencies in a blog post that outlines his plans for 2018.

2 Facebook could launch its own cryptocurrency in 2018, amid growing interest in the technology Credit: PA:Press Association

Zuckerberg explains that users are concerned that big tech companies and spying governments are crawling their Facebook habits.

He believes this could turn away users, and admits that Facebook is making "too many errors" when it comes to user trust.

One way he believes Facebook could change this is by adopting what he calls "important counter-trends...like encryption or cryptocurrency".

Zuckerberg says these technologies "take power from centralised systems and put it back into people's hands".

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He adds: "I'm interested to go deeper and study the positive and negative aspects of these technologies, and how best to use them in our service.

Building hot new technologies into Facebook could also be a prime way for Zuckerberg to re-entice a younger audience onto the social media site.

Last year, a study by eMarketer confirmed Facebook's fears of a waning youth audience. It suggested that the number of Facebook users aged between 12 and 17 was set to fall by 3.5% throughout 2017.

2 Bitcoin is just one of many cryptocurrencies, and a single unit is currently worth over $15,000 Credit: Getty - Contributor

Sadly, it's not clear exactly how Facebook would make use of cryptocurrency technology, as Zuckerberg failed to describe his plans.

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One option would be for Facebook to create its own Bitcoin rival. This could then be rolled out across the social media site's recently launched Marketplace, where users buy or sell their belongings.

Another option would be to allow friends to send cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin to each other over Facebook Messenger. Facebook added the ability to send British pounds over Messenger in November last year.

In any case, Facebook hasn't officially confirmed any such plans yet.