Hopping on the cryptocurrency bandwagon, Facebook (FB  ) has now taken on a new blockchain initiative rooted in Bitcoin. David Marcus, the head of Facebook's Messenger unit, will spearhead the group exploring this technology.

"I'm setting up a small group to explore how to best leverage blockchain across Facebook, starting from scratch," Marcus said in a post Tuesday afternoon on the social media site. Marcus joined the board of Coinbase, the leading US marketplace for buying and selling cryptocurrencies, in December. "After nearly four unbelievably rewarding years leading Messenger, I have decided it was time for me to take on a new challenge," he said.

The move comes four months after Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post that he wanted the company to "go deeper and study the positive and negative aspects of" cryptocurrencies.

Instagram's current VP of Product, Kevin Weil, will be leaving that particular role to join the new blockchain team under Marcus. Up until now, these are the only two positions that have been announced for the team, in the midst of a lot of other employee reshuffling.

In light of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, blockchain may seem on the surface to be a method by which to revamp security and appease stakeholders. On the other hand, it could also invite more government scrutiny. While the blockchain technology may be used for payments, Facebook could theoretically use it instead to check credentials, or even to trace user data collected by third parties.

The issue here is that while blockchain would technically make Facebook a more secure platform in general, it would also endow Facebook itself with more power. The extent to which people are willing to give Facebook this power is limited, especially because of the privacy concerns that have been raised of late.

Outside of digital money, blockchain is most commonly used as a decentralized, secure approach to establishing trust; for instance, you can use to verify ID without having to go through a central service.

Interestingly, Facebook has expressed disdain for crypto-influenced advertisements. Some think this ban is hypocritical in light of this new initiative.