Facebook is leaping into the world of cryptocurrency with its own digital money, designed to let people save, send or spend money as easily as firing off text messages.
“Libra” — described as “a new global currency” — was unveiled Tuesday in a new initiative in payments for the world’s biggest social network with the potential to bring crypto-money out of the shadows and into the mainstream.
Facebook and some two dozen partners released a prototype of Libra as an open source code to be used by developers interested in weaving it into apps, services or businesses ahead of a rollout as global digital money next year.
An eponymous nonprofit association based in Geneva will oversee the blockchain-based Libra, maintaining a real-world asset reserve to keep its value stable.