According to reports, Facebook has recently acquired blockchain startup Chainspace. In its first apparent blockchain related acquisition, Facebook has hired four of the five researchers that worked on Chainspace’s academic whitepaper.

The Chainspace blockchain platform uses sharding, the process of breaking a database into smaller units to alleviate the scaling problems faced by blockchain networks.

According to a report by Cheddar, the social media giant had revealed its blockchain ambitions back in May of last year with the announcement of a new blockchain research unit. Furthermore, Facebook new recruits are envisioned to help the social media platform in implementing blockchain technology in a variety of applications.

As explained by a Facebook spokesperson, the startup or its technology were not acquired, however, some staffers have joined Facebook’s blockchain research unit.

“Like many other companies, Facebook is exploring ways to leverage the power of blockchain technology,” Facebook said in a statement. “This new small team is exploring many different applications. We don’t have anything further to share.”

According to Facebook’s careers site, the company is currently hiring for 11 blockchain positions. Additionally, Facebook’s blockchain research team operates as a startup within the company with a goal “to help billions of people with access to things they don’t have now – that could be things like healthcare, equitable financial services, or new ways to save or share information.”

As of now, Chainspace website currently lists 11 staff members and four advisors on its team, with the following message at the top of the home page: “We’re excited to announce that the team is moving on to something new.”, likely alluding to facebook blockchain.