Facebook has finally unveiled their cryptocurrency platform and it is quite something.
First, they announced the Libra Association which has the new currency called Libra. The Libra association is a non profit organization that Facebook partnered with 27 countries to create Libra. Their mission is to ‘create a simple global financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people around the world’ and they are planning to launch it in 2020.
Facebook’s strategy has always been mobile first and that is the same for Libra. It will be accessible to anyone with an entry level smartphone and data connectivity. They also promise that the experience will be fast, secure and will be available globally. Libra will be backed by a reserve to make its value stable. There are also plans to make it scalable where Libra will foster an ‘ecosystem of products and services made to help people use Libra in everyday lives’
When you check out Libra’s white paper, they have some interesting tidbits. First, Libra’s ‘founding members’ are companies that you know off. Mastercard, PayPal, Visa, Stripe, eBay, Lyft, Uber, Spotify and Vodafone Group. They also plan to have approximately 100 members to the Libra Association by the first half of 2020. Facebook is expected to maintain a leadership role through 2019.
This is a big move for the cryptocurrency world since Facebook is a major tech player. Adding the fact that the Libra association includes huge players from different industries means that it will be supported well in the future and this might be a huge deal in the future.
