The mystery around Facebook’s new cryptocurrency, called Libra, has finally been unravelled. The tech giant finally expressed plans to launch the global cryptocurrency.
On Tuesday, 18th June 2019, Facebook revealed that the digital coin will come online in early 2020. This is provided the regulators in where the currency is based in Switzerland grant necessary permissions.
Facebook also created a management tool called Calibra to go with it. Calibra will serve as a digital wallet to send, spend and save Libras. It will connect to WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger platform for users.
Calibra users will have to go through a process of verification to prevent financial crimes. Anyone signing up will need to share their personal information and government ID. The digital wallet will provide support to customers who lose their phones or passwords. Facebook says it will also refund customers who lose their Libras to fraudsters.
According to David Marcus, a leader of the Libra project, the name took inspiration from Roman weight measurements. Apart from this, the French word for freedom and the astrological sign for justice is also an influence.
Marcus, also a former executive at PayPal, said,
“Freedom, justice and money, which is exactly what we’re trying to do here.”
Libra partners
The currency already partners with popular payment companies like PayPal and Mastercard. Also involved are other giant companies like Spotify, Uber and eBay. Facebook also looks to partner with about 100 companies when it launches next year.
However, the partner companies already on board reportedly invested at least $10 million in the project. The partner companies will be able to influence major decisions and have access to another elite currency. The Libra Investment Token is a security offering only sold to an exclusive few.
Meanwhile, government securities and ordinary currencies will back the Libra coin available to the masses. The interest earned on the collateral will go to the holders of the investment tokens.
Cryptocurrency investors have recently lost millions of dollars through hacks. The market is highly unregulated and is susceptible to different ills. It has faced the plague of allegations of financing terrorists, money-laundering and illegal drug sales.
The Libra Association in a statement said:
“The advent of the internet and mobile broadband has empowered billions of people globally to have access to the world’s knowledge and information, high-fidelity communication, and a wide range of lower-cost, more convenient services.”
“Despite this progress, large swaths of the world’s population are still left behind. 1.7bn adults globally remain outside of the financial system with no access to a traditional bank, even though one billion have a mobile phone.”
Earlier in the month, Plat4om reported Facebook had plans of paying the employees working on the project with the new cryptocurrency.