Quartz, June 18, 2019: Behold Libra, the global cryptocurrency masterminded by Facebook
Facebook has finally revealed plans for a cryptocurrency called Libra, one of the worst-kept secrets in the history of virtual money.
After six months of news leaks, the massive social network and 27 other partners are touting the Libra digital coin and Facebook’s corresponding digital wallet, Calibra, as a way to make sending payments around the world as easy as it is to send a photo. The new currency—linked to a basket of major currencies, like the US dollar and perhaps the euro—could make it cheaper and easier to transmit money across borders, as well as to pay for things on the internet. The partners say they plan to launch the Libra ecosystem in the first half of next year.
If successful—a big, humongous if—Libra could bring millions of people into the digital financial system, allowing them to leapfrog costly banking infrastructure and avoid smaller, volatile currencies. It could also make Facebook’s platform of 2.7 billion users (including WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger) more powerful than ever, creating a new, widespread digital money that challenges scores of financial institutions.
