Facebook Revising Its Libra Plans Amidst Growing Regulatory Pressure

The latest industry report coming from The Information states that Facebook is reportedly tweaking its Libra Project that aimed at getting its native cryptocurrency Libra in the global financial system.

People familiar with the matter told that Facebook is no longer willing to launch its Libra token in the market. Instead the Libra platform - that was supposed to handle all the Libra functions - will support all the existing government backed currencies like the Euro and the U.S. Dollar.

Additionally, the report also notes that Facebook shall be making associated changes to its Calibra wallet that was supposed to handle all the transactions of Libra. Instead the Calibra wallet will now support different currencies and allow users to make payments for products and services only using the smartphone.

Facebook announced its plans to Libra last year in June 2019. Since then the social media giant has been constantly working on addressing regulatory issues and concerns. However, it has failed to convince the regulators on this part.

The Calibra wallet was earlier scheduled to launch this year in October 2020, notes the report. It also states that Facebook was earlier planning to launch this wallet only to those jurisdictions that would support which would eventually support the app.

But the report also adds that Calibra’s major features like money transfer and storage are likely to come on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp as well. But the timeline of roll-out is still unclear.

Another report from the Bloomberg, suggests similar market plans for Facebook. One of the sources familiar with the matter said: “The dream of a single global coin isn’t dead. The new plan could expand, not pull back from, the original vision.”

However, Facebook has officially denied all these reports and says that it remains committed to the project. In a statement to The Verge, a Facebook spokesperson said: “reporting that Facebook does not intend to offer the Libra currency in its Calibra wallet is entirely incorrect” and that “Facebook remains fully committed to the project.”

Well, if at all Facebook removes the Libra cryptocurrency from this project, it might just another payments network. Of course, Facebook will be willing to leverage the blockchain technology and its power of far imitating low-cost instant global transactions.

Facebook and other BigTech companies have been heavily focusing on their entry in the global payments market over the next decade. This has got several global regulators to worry if technology companies will dominate over traditional banks in the coming years.