Facebook unveils Calibra, the new digital wallet for its crypto Libra
By Caoimhe Toman
Date: Tuesday 18 Jun 2019
(Sharecast News) - Facebook announced on Tuesday that it will open a new digital wallet called Calibra to allow users to trade its new cryptocurrency Libra by 2020.
The wallet will also be available on Messenger, WhatsApp and as a standalone app that is also expected to launch in 2020.
Mark Zuckerberg's aim with the new currency was to expand basic financial services to the hundreds of millions of people around the world who did not yet have access to them.
"Almost half of the adults in the world don't have an active bank account and those numbers are worse in developing countries and even worse for women.
"This is the challenge we're hoping to address with Calibra, a new digital wallet that you'll be able to use to save, send and spend Libra."
Calibra will allow users to send Libra to almost anyone with a smartphone, as easily and instantly as sending a text message and at low to no cost.
Facebook assured that Calibra would have strong protections in place to keep money and information safe, with all the same verification and anti-fraud processes that banks and credit cards have in place plus automated systems that will proactively monitor activity to detect and prevent fraudulent behavior.
RBC Capital Markets said on the new crypto on Tuesday: "We view Facebook's introduction of the Libra currency as a potential watershed moment for the company and global adoption of crypto. The mission for Libra is a simple global currency and financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people. In terms of scale and importance, we believe this new financial infrastructure could be viewed similar to Apple's introduction of iOS to developers over a decade ago."
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