Facebook has joined up with 27 organizations around the world to start the “non-profit Libra Association & create a currency called libra”, announced CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a FB post.
Mark described what libra’s aim is:
…..is to create a simple global financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people around the world. It’s powered by blockchain technology, & the plan is to launch it in 2020.
The Facebook new cryptocurrency is also a “stablecoin”, which means unlike others in the market, libra will be supported by established government-backed currencies & securities. Which means there will not be massive market fluctuations in value as compared to other, more volatile crypotcurrencies like Bitcoin, say experts.
Facebook also shared the plans for ‘Calibra’, a newly formed Facebook subsidiary whose goal is to provide financial services that will let people access & participate in the libra network.
Calibra’s 1st product will be a digital wallet for the Facebook brand new cryptocurrency libra, a new global currency powered by blockchain technology. The wallet will be available in Messenger, WhatsApp, & as a standalone app. The launch is sometime in 2020.
Explaining the concept of Calibra, FB said in a press statement:
For many people around the world, even basic financial services are still out of reach: almost half of the adults in the world don’t have an active bank account and those numbers are worse in developing countries and even worse for women. The cost of that exclusion is high — approximately 70% of small businesses in developing countries lack access to credit and $25 billion is lost by migrants every year through remittance fees.
This is the challenge we’re hoping to address with Calibra, a new digital wallet that you’ll be able to use to save, send and spend Libra.
About a billion people today don’t have a bank account but do have a mobile phone.
Calibra will be regulated like other payment service providers. Any information you share with Calibra will be kept separate from information you share on Facebook.
Many other companies will build their own services using Facebook new cryptocurrency libra — from payment companies like Mastercard, PayPal, PayU, Stripe & Visa, to popular services like Booking, eBay, Farfetch, Lyft, Spotify & Uber, to non-profits doing important work around financial inclusion like Kiva, Mercy Corps & Women’s World Banking, to companies in the crypto space like Anchorage, Coinbase.
Facebook has also published a white paper on its new, proposed cryptocurrency.
Image Credit: Facebook
