Facebook revokes ban on digital currency ads

Finally, there is some positive news for cryptocurrency enthusiasts! Only months after Facebook (FB) banned advertisements of digital currencies from the platform, the company has now decided to revoke it. The social media giant has also set up certain regulations that need to be followed for such ads to be published.

Meanwhile, the company continues to maintain its ban on binary options and initial coin offering.
This latest move shouldn’t be surprising, considering the fact that the company’s board includes two investors whose companies back cryptocurrencies. It now needs to be seen whether rival companies including Snap (SNAP), Twitter (TWTR) and Google (GOOGL) will follow the pattern.

Facebook quits Aquila drone project

Facebook and Google (GOOGL) had been in a race to become the first to deliver solar-powered drones that would fly over isolated areas and provide internet to billions of people. Google, which started its program Titan Aerospace in 2014, had suddenly shut it last year in favor of internet-beaming balloons — Project Loon. In a move quite similar, the social media giant has also now put an end to designing and developing its own drones.

In a blog post, Facebook said it is abandoning its ambitious plan of developing the high-altitude drone for internet delivery. The initiative was a part of its secretive project named Aquila that was initiated four years ago. The drone was built by Ascenta, a networking giant that Facebook acquired a few years back.

Explaining the company’s exit, Facebook’s director of engineering Yael Maguire said the growing interest in the field, especially from leading aerospace companies, was what prompted the company to shut the facility in Bridgwater.

Instead, the company now plans to continue working with its partner Airbus to create better versions of a high-altitude platform station (HAPS) and related technology.