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One of the most interesting aspects of the discussion on Facebook's next Facebook cryptocurrency was its fit with digital commerce, most of it coming from Western countries.
But what if Libya and Facebook's more global payments strategy do not concern western regions at all? What if Libra was more about increasing the power of The Social Network on the world's second largest market?
This week, WhatsApp, a company owned by Facebook, confirmed that it now has 400 million active users in India, a country with 450 million smartphone users in total, highlighting the dominance of the messaging application.
As reported by TechCrunch:
"WhatsApp, which has about 1.5 billion active users a month worldwide, does not really have a major competitor in India. Messenger, another platform owned by Facebook, and Hike, which millions of users consult daily, are closest to its competitors in the country. "
The numbers show that WhatsApp is the undisputed leader of the Indian market – which, as noted, is interesting compared to Libra, which, at least initially, was designed to specifically attract the Indian market.
According to Bloomberg last December:
"Facebook is working on creating a cryptocurrency that will allow users to transfer money on its WhatsApp messaging application, focusing first on the remittance market in India. "
Remittances – people who send money to family from other regions – are huge in India and at first it seemed like Facebook would seek to provide a new free option to facilitate this via its cryptographic offer. Then, once these funds are moved into the Facebook system, additional solutions would be offered, such as paying bills, facilitating other types of transfers and possibly integrating purchases into the system. line.
This is the model that WeChat has used in the world's most populous nation, China, where WeChat is used for a wide range of commercial actions. WeChat is used by more than 900 million Chinese every day and facilitates more $ 10 trillion in payments each year.
If Facebook could do the same thing with Libra, it would be a huge potential opportunity for society.
But it will not be easy because Facebook has since said that it was not trying to launch Libra in the Indian market, at least not at the beginning. During last month's launch of Libra, Facebook said India was not part of its initial deployment plan, which may be due in part to concerns over cryptocurrency from Indian regulators. According to reports, India the central bank said that it will not Cryptocurrency is spreading like a "contagion" in the country.
This could slow Facebook's plans for expansion, even though it is already planning to deploy it. WhatsApp Pay to all of its Indian users by the end of the year.
This could perhaps make rethink Libra and its use. If it will not be accessible on Facebook's largest user market, Libra may not be as useful as Facebook had hoped for in the first place. This program could still be useful, and Facebook could perhaps renegotiate for the Libra to be introduced in India. But perhaps the restrictions on the Indian market will force Facebook to focus on WhatsApp Pay and set up this eco-system.
It will be interesting to see how Facebook is planning to progress on this front and what the future holds for the encrypted offer of Facebook already contested.
Will Libra become an essential tool on the platform? Admittedly, skepticism is on the rise.
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