LatAm List – Libra is Facebook’s new global digital coin that will allow users to save, send, or spend money with a simple text message. Facebook open-sourced the Libra blockchain as a prototype in a prelaunch testnet, before its official launch which will take place next year.
The cryptocurrency initiative seeks to help the unbanked of the world.
“We believe that if people are given the possibility to access money and opportunities at a lower cost –which is what Internet in part does with information— a lot more stability can be achieved compared to what we have now,” said Dante Disparte, Head of Policy and Communications at Libra Association, a nonprofit formed by Facebook.
Although Facebook is developing Libra, eventually it plans to pass the project on to the 27 members of the Libra Association which includes venture capital firms, other nonprofit organizations, crypto firms, and massive corporate financial, telecommunications, and technology service providers, including Mastercard, Visa, eBay, Mercado Libre, PayPal, Spotify, Uber, Lyft, and Vodafone.
Those organizations will also contribute to what is known as the Libra Reserve, the asset pool that will ensure every unit of Libra currency is backed by something of intrinsic value rather than by scarcity, as is Bitcoin.
In parallel, Facebook is preparing its own digital wallet Calibra, which will be included in Messenger and WhatsApp and will have Libra cryptocurrency as one of its means of payment.