Facebook’s Libra sparks privacy and security concerns

On Tuesday, Facebook unveiled plans of launching its own digital currency, Libra, in the first half of 2020. Facebook’s stablecoin will let users shop and send money overseas with almost zero transaction fees.

Facebook has united forces with some of the major names in payment and e-services including Mastercard, PayPal, Uber, Visa, Spotify, eBay, and Vodafone, to form the 28-members Libra Association, based in Geneva. Facebook hopes to have. It is reported they expect to have 100 members by Libra’s launch, showing the ambition underlying its plans. The Libra currency will be stored on the e-wallet Calibra, which is being developed by Facebook. According to the company, the Calibra wallet will be available in Messenger, WhatsApp and as a standalone app.

In less than 24 hours, the project already raised great concerns as Libra is poised to become a global currency that could potentially challenge major fiat currencies such as the US dollar, as well as take down traditional financial institutions.

Having a centralised tech company like Facebook orchestrating the launch and system of a cryptocurrency goes against one of the core principles of digital currencies advocates: decentralisation. With 2.7 billion users, Facebook has constantly been a target for hackers and malicious actors, because of the value of its users’ data — it can become even worse holding large amounts of money.

Whilst a more detailed plan of how Libra is going to work, it is clear that it will have a significant impact over the current financial system, perhaps even become a major player, given the large influence of Facebook......

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#FinancialFox Crypto Spotlight: Libra, Facebook's “Crap Coin”

In this episode of the Financial Fox Crypto Show, PR guru Stefania Barbaglio discusses Facebook’s new cryptocurrency, Libra, with On Yavin, CEO of CoinIntelligence. On calls it “CRAP COIN”, a fake cryptocurrency that goes against all principles of the crypto world: it is centralised, and poses significant concerns on data transparency, data privacy, security and regulations. Experts have branded the move a dangerous power grab that marks Facebook's "most invasive" form of surveillance yet.

On the other hand, Libra could widen expose cryptocurrencies to billions of users and help push mainstream adoption of digital payments. A story to follow.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE :