Facebook is scaling back its ambitious plans to enter the cryptocurrency sector, while users on the platform are not very confident about the site's new addition.
Libra is crypto for the masses, but Facebook needs to build trust, expert says
The media giant is likely to launch its small-scale Libra cryptocurrency project as early as January. Libra was originally going to be a new currency backed by fiat money (a currency established as money by a government) and securities (tradable financial assets). Libra will now operate as a stablecoin, meaning its value won’t fluctuate because it’s pegged to something like the US dollar or a basket of currencies.
“It was only a matter of time before a private company went down the path of their own cryptocurrency,” Joseph Raczynski, a technologist and futurist for Thomas Reuters, told Lifewire in an email. “I was very excited when I heard this was happening last summer, but I was skeptical about how it would play out.”
According to Raczynski, cryptocurrency is the private sector's brand new way to exchange value over the internet, and Facebook is eager to take advantage of it.
