For the longest time, it had been rumoured that Facebook will eventually join the crypto party. Since last year, several reports had stated that Facebook has been busy building a 'blockchain team' for its secretive blockchain project.
Over the course of last year, it was becoming increasingly clear that Facebook's blockchain project could indeed be a cryptocurrency, though what function it would serve exactly remained a topic of debate.
In the weeks preceeding today, leaked information suggested that the project's name would be Libra and that it would serve as a global cryptocurrency, letting users transfer crypto from anywhere to anywhere and that it would be integrated into the various social platforms already owned by Facebook.
Today, Facebook has put to rest all the speculation by officially announcing the Libra project and its whitepaper.
Libra - Fb's Plan To Reinvent Money
Facebook is touting Libra as a global cryptocurrency built on top of its own Libra blockchain. It will be a stablecoin that will be backed by a basket of various fiat currencies and assets that will help it remain non-volatile.
Libra's mission is clear and simple. The plan is to "enable a simple global currency and financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people." They want to do to money what the internet did to information.
For this purpose, Facebook has setup a subsidiary called the Libra foundation, which is going to be a not-for-profit organisation and has partnered with industry heavyweights such as Visa, Mastercard, Uber, Spotify, Coinbase, Vodafone Group, eBay, Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and many more. The eventual plan is to partner with over 100 such industry leaders.
Facebook also announced another subsidiary called Calibra which will "build and operate services on top of the Libra network." As of now, Calibra is a wallet that you will be able to install on your phones and through which you'll be able to use Libra, in addition to the Whatsapp and Messenger integration.
The official launch is set to happen on 2020 as there are a ton of stuff that Facebook would need to iron out before a public release. The testnet however will be launched soon. You can check out the whitepaper here and the Calibra website here.