In recent years, one of the biggest technological trends has been the steady shift towards digital currency as a major means of commerce and trade. While we could argue all day about the pros and cons of cryptocurrency, its significance in today’s business world can’t be denied. In fact, it just got another boost by tech giant Faceboook’s announcement that it will be creating its own brand of cryptocurrency, dubbed the Libra.
In a Facebook post from his official account, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the initiation of the Calibra program and the non-profit Libra Association. At the start of the post, Zuckerberg says that Facebook is “coming together with 27 organizations around the world” to launch this program with the goal of creating a simple global financial infrastructure that can empower billions of people around the world. Now, these words could usually be dismissed as a marketing guise, but this is Facebook we’re talking about here, and if there is one company that is capable of actually reaching billions of people around the world, it’s Facebook. Long story short, if Facebook manages to pull this off, it could change the face of cryptocurrency forever.
So how does the Libra work? A user will have a digital wallet called the Calibra, they can buy libras and store it in their Calibra, and the user could then transfer this currency to another user such as a family member or use it to buy goods and services from other users, pretty much like actual money.
Will Libra be able to take on the current king of cryptocurrency, bitcoin (it already went up)? That still remains to be seen. But if what Facebook is promising comes true, it could get rid of the current problems plaguing cryptocurrency, such as unreliable price fluctuations. This may be possible because Libra will be more regulated than traditional cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, among other things. For more details on how the Libra is supposed to work, be sure to check out the official website. Will you be adopting Libra as your new means of commerce? Do let us know in the comments below!