Social media behemoth Facebook is advertising for five more blockchain-related positions – adding to the 20 positions already posted by the company in the last month or so.

The new blockchain-related positions, all of which are based at the company’s Menlo Park HQ in California, include: production manager, business operations manager, data scientist, software engineer and growth product manager.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been talking a lot in public about blockchain and cryptography of late. His comments suggested a move to embrace end-to-end encryption of users’ data on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. However, some critics are calling his decentralization and privacy mantra nothing more than a PR message.

In a video interview with Harvard Law professor Jonathan Zittrain, Zuckerberg speculated on the prospect of Facebook using a blockchain model to enable decentralized logins without its servers acting as authenticators.

Meanwhile, the New York Times recently reported that Facebook is developing a digital currency that its users can trade among each other and exchange on cryptocurrency exchanges.

Whatever Facebook is up to, it’s definitely hiring.

The latest ads also provide some insight into Facebook’s crypto strategy. The company said the blockchain team “is a startup within Facebook and we’re exploring lots of areas of interest across all facets of blockchain technology.”

It’s also talking up the silver-lined promises of blockchain, saying:

“Our ultimate goal is 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.”

Facebook image via Shutterstock