Facebook reportedly launching Libra cryptocurrency next year

Marco Green

November 27, 2020

Facebook is reportedly planning to launch its ambitious project Libra as early as January 2021.

Facebook and 20 partner organisations formally joined the digital currency project during a meeting in Geneva in October past year. The limited version scheduled for January 2021 launch will be backed 1:1 by the USA dollar. The developer of a digital wallet designed for Libra digital currencies explained that the wallets were ready but for limited users.

But in April the Facebook-backed Libra project drastically reduced the scope of its planned cryptocurrency.

This is probably why the The Libra Association, a Geneva, Switzerland-based non-profit founded by Facebook and several other companies, has chose to pare down its ambitions when it comes to Libra.

In a move to win regulators' hearts, The Libra Association in April announced that its cryptocurrency will offer stable coins backed by just one nation's currency, meaning some coins offered would serve as the equivalent value of a dollar or a Euro. There will be significant changes compared to the original project.

According to a publication of Financial Times on Friday, November 27, highly- suppressed Libra might get off the ground as early as January 2021, but still, the exact date of the launch depends upon the regulatory approval from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority.

Initially, the plan was to create a single cryptocurrency backed by multiple real currencies, but it was soon met with criticism from global regulators. According to FT's report, the coin based on U.S. dollar will be launched first, and the other coins along with the composite coin will be rolled out at a later point.

The Libra Association, the stand-alone group guiding the crypto, has been set up in Switzerland, a Fintech friendly jurisdiction, that is now reviewing Libra's proposal.

This followed the appointment of former HSBC European head James Emmett as MD of Libra Networks, as well as Sterling Daines as Chief Compliance Officer.