Libra is the cryptocurrency launched by Facebook that will initially be used on social applications to send money to friends. How it works
After many rumors, we have the official news: Mark Zuckerberg has announced the arrival, starting next year, of the cryptocurrency made in Facebook to exchange money via instant messaging services. It’s called Libra and will be tested starting in 2020. Although, to tell the truth, Libra will not be exactly “made in Facebook”.
To manage it, in fact, will be a non-profit organization called Libra Association, which already has 28 members among which there are also many excellent and well-known names. It will be 100% Facebook, however, the company Calibra that will manage the wallet of currencies Libra usable through the services of Facebook Inc. Libra will be a cryptocurrency regulated by blockchain technology, but unlike Bitcoin and other virtual currencies will be guaranteed by a “reserve” in real currencies and bank credits scattered around the world to avoid excessive fluctuations in value.
How Libra will work
Libra was announced by Mark Zuckerberg himself through a post on Facebook. So everything we know today about this virtual currency is official news, no longer speculation. It will be used not only on Facebook: other companies will be able to build their own services based on this currency. Libra will be protected from currency fraud through a blockchain structure in which all transactions will be managed and recorded by a network of computer nodes and not by a server of a single company or public entity. It will be able to be used anywhere in the world, as long as there is an Internet connection, at “low costs and low fees.”
How Calibra will work
Calibra will be the wallet expressed in Libra to be used inside Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. Zuckerberg points out that it will be regulated like other payment service providers and that the information you share with Calibra will be kept separate from the information you share with Facebook. With Calibra, we’ll be able to send Libra payments to friends using our smartphones, pay bills and coffee at the bar or subway fare.
Libra Association members
At the moment, the Libra Association has 28 founding members, but Zuckerberg believes it could grow to 100 members even before the official launch of the new currency. Libra’s founders include all the biggies in credit cards, online commerce, some telecommunications giants, blockchain experts and financial investors. Ecco la lista dei 28 membri fondatori di Libra Association:
- MasterCard
- PayPal
- PayU
- Stripe
- Visa
- Booking
- eBay
- Facebook Calibra
- Farfetch
- Lyft
- Mercado Pago
- Spotify
- Uber
- Iliad
- Vodafone
- Anchorage
- BisonTrails
- Coinbase
- Xapo
- Andreessen Horowitz
- Breakthrough Initiatives
- Ribbit Capital
- Thrive Capital
- Union Square Ventures
- Creative Destruction Lab
- Kiva, Mercy Corps
- Women’s World Banking.