Libra (≋) is a proposed blockchain cryptocurrency by Facebook, built on Libra Blockchain, an open-source blockchain featuring its proof-of-stake protocol. Libra is not a decentralized cryptocurrency; it is a form of digital money backed by a reserve of assets.
Morgan Beller planted the first seeds of Libra, she is known as the key figure behind Facebook's push into blockchain technology; she also considers herself a co-creator of Libra. After she joined Facebook in 2017, she spent over a year and a half working on blockchain strategy before becoming the head of strategy for Calibra, a digital wallet for Libra built on blockchain technology.
Morgan Beller, Co-creator of Libra & Head of Strategy at Calibra (Source: Facebook)
Below is a very brief timeline of Libra:
May 2017: Morgan Bellerleft her job at Medium.com and started working at Facebook. Nine months later, she joined the blockchain strategy team and started working on Facebook blockchain initiative.
8 May 2018: David Marcus (Facebook vice president) joined the new Libra team and officially began working on the new project, alongside Morgan Beller & Kevin Weil. Over the next few months, they recruited other top Facebook talent onto the new blockchain division.
13 June 2019: The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook is working on its own cryptocurrency that will be announced next week, and set to be launched next year alongside the blockchain-based network that will support it. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Facebook has secured backing from more than a dozen companies like PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Booking.com, and each company will invest around $10 million to fund the new currency development.
18 June 2019: Facebook announced Libra digital currency, Calibra digital wallet, and the nonprofit Libra Association, an organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, that will govern the new currency.
16 July 2019: David Marcus told the Senate Banking Committee in U.S. Senate Hearing, "that Facebook will only build its own Calibra cryptocurrency wallet into Messenger and WhatsApp, and will refuse to embed competing wallets" and also expressed that "Libra will not launch until the U.S. lawmakers' concerns have been answered".
4 October 2019: PayPal withdraws from the Libra Association.
9 October 2019: U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and Senator Brian Schatz sent letters to the CEOs of Stripe, Visa, and MasterCard to express deep concerns over Facebook's Libra Association, the senators in their letters were concerned about "key questions remain unanswered about the risks the project poses to consumers, regulated financial institutions, and the global financial system".
11 October 2019: eBay, Mastercard, Strip, Visa, and Mercado Pago withdraw from the Libra Association.
15 October 2019: Facebook launches Libra Association. Representatives from the remaining 21 organizations (out of 28 original members) met and signed Libra Association charter in Geneva. 21 initial members include: Coinbase, Lyft, Uber Technologies, Spotify AB, PayU, Vodafone, Women's World Banking, Mercy Corps, Creative Destruction Lab any other organizations
Upcoming events:
- Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook CEO) will testify on Libra before congress on 23 October 2019.
- Libra public launch in the first half of 2020.
