Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg image: Facebook

After several reports of Facebook working on a digital currency, the company has officially unveiled just that. Today, Facebook divulged details of a new cryptocurrency, Libra, that’ll let people purchase things or transfer money to people with close to zero fees. Users will be able to buy or cash out their Libra online at local exchange points, and spend it using third-party wallet apps or Facebook’s newly announced wallet, Calibra. Calibra will be offered as both a standalone app, and within the WhatsApp and Messenger apps.

 Facebook won’t exert full control of Libra, but has instead assembled a team of founding members that’ll each get a single vote (including Facebook itself) in the governance of the new digital currency. The partners (a quite reputable list) have each invested at least $10 million into Libra’s operations. They include:

• Stripe
• PayPal 
• Coinbase
• Visa
• Mastercard 
• PayU 
• Uber
• Lyft
• Spotify
• Booking Holdings 
• Farfetch 
• Andreessen Horowitz 
• Vodafone 
• Thrive Capital 
• Anchorage 
• Xapo 
• BisonTrails 
• Kiva 
• Iliad 
• Union Square Ventures 
• Ribbit Capital 
• Women’s World Banking
• Mercy Corps
• Breakthrough Initiatives
• Creative Destruction Lab and
• Mercado Pago

A depiction of Calibra image: Facebook

To govern Libra, Facebook is setting up a subsidiary company called Calibra that handles its crypto dealings and guards users’ privacy by making sure Libra payments are not linked to Facebook data that can be used for ad targeting. Users’ real identities will also not be linked to publicly visible transactions.

Facebook and its founding partners will earn interest on the money users put in that’ll be held in reserve to stablize the value of the Libra currency. This explains why Facebook’s partners put in substantial amounts into the project. For more info, you can read the Libra whitepaper.

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