A man who knows a few things about the power of social and individuals, Mark Zuckerberg, has stated that he will be studying cryptocurrencies further in order to explore their potential for empowering individuals.

The co-founder of Facebook, in what he has called one of his personal challenges for the new year, has stated that the power of decentralized systems like cryptocurrency could help take power away from the centralized system and place it back in the hands of individuals.

Digging deeper

Lauded as an innovator and one of the fathers of social media, Zuckerberg has shown his fascination with cryptocurrencies before, but this latest New Year’s post has indications that he will be investigating its potential much further for potential improvement for Facebook. Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post:

"There are important counter-trends to this – like encryption and cryptocurrency – that take power from centralized systems and put it back into people's hands...I'm interested to go deeper and study the positive and negative aspects of these technologies, and how best to use them in our services."

Blockchain social media

There have already been a number of social media platforms based around Blockchain service; however, the firepower of a company like Facebook, which reaches over one bln people on a daily basis investigating cryptocurrencies could be monumental.

Zuckerberg’s overarching message in the post which made mention of cryptocurrencies was based around “fixing important issues in technology, media and government.” And, indeed, a technology like Blockchain is being heralded as revolutionary within those fields and with the backing of such an institution, there could be scope for rocketing growth in adoption and recognition for cryptocurrencies.

Take back the power

It is unsurprising to see why Zuckerberg would be interested in a decentralized system when you inspect social media for its peer-to-peer power. While there is a centralized force on Facebook, it has given individuals a lot of power and a much bigger voice.

A decentralized system like cryptocurrencies can only aid that growth further, and as Zuckerberg states - “put it [power] back into people’s hands.”

Well-known Software Engineer Jameson Lopp explains how, in a monetary space, cryptocurrencies have flipped conventional centralized thinking on its head.

“At least from the monetary standpoint, we said let's turn this whole thing upside down. Instead of us trusting certain entities, instead, we are going to track everything ourselves, validate our rules and not trust anybody.”

Be it media, social media, finance, investing or any other sector, the traditionalists and the early innovators turning to cryptocurrencies, even to learn, could be the start of something big.