But first you have to trust Facebook with yet more personal data.
Heres what you should probably know.
How does it work?
In that way its a lot like PayPal and Venmo.
But unlike PayPal and Venmo, Libra is largely aimed at people without bank accounts.
(See Why would I want to use it?
Its more like exchanging a dollar for a Euro.
The current plan is to let many developers make their own wallets.
This isnt a coin that you buy because you think it will grow 100 times as valuable.
Its more like exchanging a dollar for a Euro.
You dontneedto know this next part, but it has some consequences that well explain later.
(See Who controls it?
When is it coming?
The Libra Association plans to launch the coin some time in 2020.
It will immediately be available on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, and through several other Libra partners.
Will I have to use it?
The answer will probably lie between your answers to Do youneedVenmo?
and Do youneeda credit card?
How long did people know about this?
Facebook started working on Libra in early 2018,according to Wireds history of the coin.
Some details about the coinleaked in 2018, but most were unclear until Facebook launched awebsiteandwhite paperyesterday.
Who made it?
Each partner gets a vote on group decisions.
Facebook is one partner.
Calibra, its wholly owned spinoff company, is another.
Whats Calibra?
Calibra makes, and is, a wallet: an app that lets you exchange Libra.
Why would I want to use it?
But youre not who Libra is aiming at right now.
The biggest market, he tells Lifehacker, is people sending money to family abroad.
Thats 31% of the worlds adult population.
Fees for these international transfers average 7%, according toTechCrunch.
You cant use PayPal or Venmo to solve this; both of those require a bank account.
But you dont need a bank account to get on Libra.
A billion of those unbanked people have a mobile phone, and half a billion have internet access.
They could receive money in the form of Libra on their phonesand spend that money as Libra as well.
Libra will make these transactions cheaper than other non-bank options.
And not just to send it to people without banks.
Other founding members of the association include Uber and Lyft, eBay, and Spotify.
These companies will all be eager to let you pay in Libraand they might offer discounts if you do.
Lammer compares it to credit card rewards, which venture to keep you locked into their ecosystem.
If taking an Uber is 1% cheaper with Libra than with dollars, youll think about getting Libra.
Specific discounts like this havent been announced yet, but theyre definitely in the works.
Why would a company want me to use it?
To save money
Keeping you in Libra could save these companies a lot of money.
If they want to get your money via credit card, they have to pay a transaction fee.
They hate sending so much of their money to Visa and Mastercard.)
To track your purchases
The biggest reason might be customer data.
For example, he says, they might offer lines of credit.
Its the Apple Podcasts app of money.
So Facebook gets to double dip into this currency in a way that most of its partners wont.
How much does it cost?
And that wont dramatically changeunless some major world currencies dramatically change.
Can I invest in it?
Or you’re able to invest in the many businesses that will spring up around Libra support.
Will my money become worthless?
If Libra is successful, its value will remain stable.
Theres alwayssomerisk, but its nowhere near as risky as Bitcoin, where the price wildly fluctuates.
Will my money get hacked or stolen?
That depends on how adventurous you get.
As it tries to establish Libras legitimacy, Facebook will prioritize security, but the companyhas been hacked before.
you gotta be more careful with third-party apps.
So you shouldnt use just any app unless you’re free to confirm its legit.
You could always fall for a scam the same ways you could with your regular credit card or PayPal.
You have to be just as careful with your Libra as you are with the rest of your money.
Can I trust Facebook?
That alone is a big drawback, at least versus more decentralized and anonymous cryptocurrencies.
Lammer points out that tracking transactions is a common way to catch white-collar criminals.
Facebook and other tech giants have a history ofhanding over lots of data to law enforcement.
Do you trust government authorities to never abuse their surveillance power?
Have…have you heard of the NSA?
You dont have to have a Facebook account to join Calibra.
But you do have to give Calibra a government-issued ID.
(Third-party developers might let you skip that step.)
Facebook is too established to play that game, at least as aggressively as a young startup.
Calibra explicitly says its allowed to use your data to market other Calibra products to you.
Which is not unusual.
And while it wont share Calibra data to Facebook, it might ask you to share yourFacebookdata toCalibra.
But it promises to ask your permission.
And as for Facebooks promises, well, Facebook has neverabusedits usersprivacybefore,right?
Lammer thinks the company will get creative and find ways to cash in on all this transaction data.
Not that you could stop them if they changed their minds.
Will there be a Google coin and an Apple coin too?
Anonymized data, maybe, but still.
