After months of reports and rumours around Facebook launching its own cryptocurrency, the social media giant has officially shared its plans. Facebook will launch its own global cryptocurrency ‘Libra’ in 2020. It also announced that it is forming a subsidiary called Calibra to provide financial services.
The first product Calibra will introduce is a digital wallet for Libra, which will be powered by blockchain technology. The wallet will be available in Messenger, WhatsApp and as a standalone app, which will be launched in 2020.
Facebook said in a statement that Calibra will look to address the problem of accessibility of basic financial services.
“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,” it said in a statement.
From the beginning, Calibra will let users send Libra to almost anyone with a smartphone, as easily and instantly as you might send a text message and at low to no cost.
“And, in time, we hope to offer additional services for people and businesses, like paying bills with the push of a button, buying a cup of coffee with the scan of a code or riding your local public transit without needing to carry cash or a metro pass,” it said.
With privacy being one of the biggest concerns around Facebook, the company claims that Calibra will have strong protections in place to keep people’s money and information safe.
“We’ll be using all the same verification and anti-fraud processes that banks and credit cards use, and we’ll have automated systems that will proactively monitor activity to detect and prevent fraudulent behavior. We’ll also offer dedicated live support to help if you lose your phone or your password — and if someone fraudulently gains access to your account and you lose some Libra as a result, we’ll offer you a refund,” Facebook says.
Facebook claims that Calibra will not share account information or financial data with Facebook or any third party without customer consent, except in limited cases. User information and financial data will also not be used to improve ad targeting on Facebook, the company claims.
“The limited cases where this data may be shared reflect our need to keep people safe, comply with the law and provide basic functionality to the people who use Calibra,” it added.