Facebook plans to launch own cryptocurrency called Libra

[David48atTD]

Facebook Calibra digital wallet app
An artist's impression of what the Calibra digital wallet app might look like.


Facebook plans to launch a cryptocurrency called Libra next year as part of its wider efforts to expand beyond social networking and into e-commerce and global payments.

Key points:

• Facebook says it will launch Libra in the first half of 2020
• The new cryptocurrency will be connected to messaging platforms Messenger and WhatsApp
• Facebook is currently facing several scandals over its handling of "fake news" and users' information

Facebook said it had linked with 28 partners to form Libra Association, a Geneva-based entity governing its new digital coin, which will be launched in the first half of 2020.

The California-based company has also created Calibra, a subsidiary which will offer digital wallets connected to messaging platforms Messenger and WhatsApp to save, send and spend Libras, which will be backed by government-backed assets.

Facebook is betting it can squeeze revenue out of its messaging services through transactions and payments, something already happening on Chinese social apps like WeChat.

"Combining transaction data from the Calibra app with the social data that Facebook and WhatsApp and Instagram has, that's where the treasure trove is," Teunis Brosens, ING's lead economist for digital finance and regulation in Amsterdam, said.

Here

[jabir]

Anyone know how many Zuckie will mine? Record so far must go to Q's 100,000,000,000,000tr.

[Hugh Cow]

I was thinking of launching the snubcoin. Don't know whether to float it against the average price of a Seattle basement, a Tesla 3, or the average cost of rehabilitating a fat drunken retard.

[Little Chuchok]

I was thinking of launching the snubcoin. Don't know whether to float it against the average price of a Seattle basement, a Tesla 3, or the average cost of rehabilitating a fat drunken retard.

Nah, It will devalue and shrink too quickly.(A bit like his bollocks and his ability to fly to any International destination. )

[HuangLao]

Oh dear.
We're so easy.

[David48atTD]

Oh dear.
We're so easy.

I'm easy

[Hugh Cow]

I'm easy

Slut.

[David48atTD]

Payments giants abandon Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency


Facebook had said it hoped to launch Libra in 2020 Getty Images

Mastercard, Visa, eBay and payments firm Stripe have pulled out of Facebook’s embattled cryptocurrency project, Libra.


Their move, first reported in the Financial Times, follows the withdrawal of PayPal, announced last week.
It represents a huge blow to the social network’s plans to launch what it envisions as a global currency.


https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50023008

[Dragonfly]

too big a liability, bye bye Libra

[MarilynMonroe]

I'm easy

5$ an hour easy?

Oh FB, what a flop!

[AntRobertson]

Payments giants abandon Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency

In no way related to Libra that I know of but I've just seen that Sony has pulled linked support for PlayStation from Facebook as well.

Sign of the times maybe.

[MarilynMonroe]

fb will never compare to wechat whatever they have up their sleeve. Wechat pay is genius. Whoever has used it for any length of time will know how awesome wechat pay is. Coming back to North America and not being able to use wechat was a letdown.

[Dragonfly]

Hi Earl, what's up with you

[harrybarracuda]

Facebook’s remaining partners in its digital currency project signed paperwork Monday to officially join the Libra Association, a new governing body that will oversee the social media giant’s proposed global cryptocurrency, Libra.

The association’s 21 founding members – a group that shrank when numerous notable partners bailed on the project late last week – signed a formal charter in Geneva on Monday, outlining their commitment to the effort, though the new charter says that members can leave at any time. The group also appointed a board and announced the first few members of its executive leadership team. The association partners, including Uber Technologies, Spotify Technology and Coinbase, will work with Facebook to get the new currency off the ground and through regulatory scrutiny.

“Today marks an important step in our journey,” Calibra, the division inside Facebook working on the crypto project, said in a statement. “It is time for change and we are committed to seeing this through.”

The charter gives each founding member a single vote in important governance matters. The Libra Association said its inaugural five-person board will include David Marcus, the Facebook executive who has been leading this effort, and representatives from Kiva Microfunds, PayU, Xapo Holdings and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

The official formation of the Libra Association marks an important milestone in the project’s short lifespan. When Facebook unveiled the plan in June, it listed 27 partners on the project, including a number of well-known payments companies. It was a show of strength, but also a message from Facebook that the social network wouldn’t be solely responsible. Rather, there would be other companies helping to manage the new currency, an important detail considering Facebook has been under fire for privacy lapses and is currently facing escalating antitrust scrutiny.

But intense pushback from regulators and lawmakers created concerns for a number of early advocates, and many of the most high-profile partners abandoned the project late last week. The dropouts included Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and EBay. PayPal, another established partner with lots of ties to the Libra project, had bailed a week earlier.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/...tion-1.4051137