Facebook plans to launch its own cryptocurrency

Facebook is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency, dubbed GlobalCoin, in early 2020, allowing users to make digital payments in a dozen countries.

GlobalCoin would enable Facebook’s 2.4 billion monthly users to change dollars and other international currencies into its digital coins, which could then be used to make payments or transfer money without needing a bank account.

The BBC reports that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and chief executive of Facebook, last month met the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, to discuss the plans.

Zuckerberg has also discussed the proposal, dubbed Project Libra, with US Treasury officials and is in talks with money transfer firms, including Western Union, to develop cheap, safe ways for people to send and receive money.

A report last year said that Facebook is working on a cryptocurrency that will let users transfer money using WhatsApp, its encrypted mobile-messaging app.

In order to try to make the value of Facebook’s digital currency stable, the company is looking to peg its value to a basket of established currencies, including the US dollar, the euro and the Japanese yen.

Via BBC/The Guardian