Facebook will be revealing its own cryptocurrency sometime next week. Not only that, the social network says that its digital dollar will be back by several major financial institutes like Visa and Mastercard, along with companies such as PayPal, Uber, and Booking.com, to name a few.
The new coin will be officially be known as Libra, and each organisation will be investing US$10 million (~RM41.7 million) out of their own pockets. In a show of support for Facebook’s cryptocurrency endeavour. On that note, all participating companies will also become part of the Libra Association; an entirely new and independent consortium that will manage the new crypto dollar.
By launching Libra, Facebook hopes to attract user in developing countries towards it. It describes Libra as a potential alternative for people to send money to other via WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
Libra’s reveal is set for 18 June, but according to sources, Facebook will only fully release the coin sometime next year. Further, Libra will be classified as a stablecoin – a kind of cryptocurrency that is part of a list of other government-issued currencies, much like a fiat.
Clearly, this isn’t going to be an easy task for Facebook, as it still needs to overcome several hurdles before Libra is commonly used by the masses. For now, the social media giant has already met with Mark Carney, governor at the Bank of England, as well as the US Treasury to discuss the viability of Libra becoming the viable alternative it hopes to be.
(Source: The Verge, TechCrunch // Image: Business Today)
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