Focusing on Indian payments market, Social media major Facebook is framing a strategy to develop a cryptocurrency that will let users transfer money on WhatsApp, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.

The company is developing a stablecoin — a digital currency that is pegged to the US dollar — to minimise volatility, the sources told the news agency.

The social media major is still working on the strategy, that is a plan for custody assets, or regular currencies that would be held to protect the value of the stablecoin, the sources added.

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

According to a World Bank report cited by the agency, India leads the world in remittances as people sent $69 billion home to India in 2017. WhatsApp is also very popular in India, as it has more than 200 million users.