Facebook’s Libra project could launch as early as January

Facebook’s long-awaited cryptocurrency firm Libra could go live as early as January, three people involved in the case said. Financial Times this week. But don’t get too excited just yet: thanks to a torrent of federal exam and many of his main investors replenish on the project, its scope was considerably reduced.

The Facebook-run Libra association now intends to launch just “one coin backed one-for-one by the dollar” with plans to roll out additional currencies and a “digital composite ‘of all its parts at an unspecified future date, a source said at the point of sale. It’s far from Libra original sales pitch in June 2019 to “reinvent money” and “transform the global economy” by leveraging the billions of Facebook users to evolve its global network, blockchain-based payment network.

But it was in the before the times. Before the Covid-19 pandemic wreaks havoc on the global economy, on the one hand, and before a series of problems encroaches on the project. Seven of the Libra Association ‘s leading members, including PayPal, Stripe, Visa, eBay and Mastercard, have withdrawn from the project since. Their the exodus came after regulators in the United States, India, China, the European Union and elsewhere publicly opposed to Libra and so called “crypto mafia” behind and voiced fears that cryptocurrency network could threaten monetary stability or be flooded with money laundering programs. Officials was also worried that Facebook, a company that is no stranger to failures for history books, was trying to get around their control.

Facebook also finished rebranding the digital cryptocurrency wallet, which he owns, which this has planned for the project. The company has changed from Calibra to Novi after the first logo became the subject of A brand infringement lawsuit.

Libra official the launch date remains uncertain for the moment, but could come as early as January while awaiting authorization to operate as a payment service from the Federal Financial Market Supervisory Authority, sources told the Financial Times on condition of anonymity. As for Novi, thenot worker familiar with the subject says tthat the portfolio was ‘product ready’, but Facebook is holding back its launch and instead focusing on “Half a dozen high volume remittance corridors,” including the United States and several Latin American countries.

[Financial Times]