MoneyFacebook plans its own currency for 2 billion-plus users

© AAP The currency will be similar to Bitcoin.

Facebook already rules daily communication for more than 2 billion people around the world. Now it wants its own currency, too.

The social network unveiled an ambitious plan to create a new digital currency similar to Bitcoin for global use, one that could drive more e-commerce on its services and boost ads on its platforms.

But the effort, which Facebook is launching with partners including PayPal, Uber, Spotify, Visa and Mastercard, could also complicate matters for the beleaguered social network. Facebook is currently under federal investigation over its privacy practices, and along with other technology giants also faces a new antitrust probe in Congress.

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Facebook unveiled an ambitious plan Tuesday to create a new digital currency similar to Bitcoin for global use, one that could drive more e-commerce on The digital currency , called Libra, is scheduled to launch sometime in the next six to 12 months. Facebook is taking the lead on building Libra and its

Now it wants its own currency , too. The social network unveiled an ambitious plan Tuesday to create a new digital currency similar to Bitcoin for global use Creating its own globe-spanning currency — one that could conceivably threaten banks, national currencies and the privacy of users — isn’t likely

© Supplied What the Calibra digital wallet app might look like.

Creating its own globe-spanning currency — one that could conceivably threaten banks, national currencies and the privacy of users — isn't likely to dampen regulators' interest in Facebook.

"It's a bold and strategic move that has clear risks as well as opportunities tied to it," said Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives. "This could raise further yellow flags as more regulators focus on Facebook."

David Marcus, the head of Facebook's cryptocurrency operation, said in a tweet that Facebook is creating a separate subsidiary, Calibra, to handle the new currency. He said feedback from customers has been "loud and clear" about keeping social media and financial data separate.

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The social media giant is announcing Libra, a cryptocurrency it is creating with partners including Uber, PayPal, Visa and Spotify. Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending

Facebook plans its own digital currency for use by 2 billion - plus people. Facebook hopes to raise as much as billion from existing and future partners to support the effort. Company officials emphasized that Libra is a way of sending money across borders without incurring significant fees

"We understand we will have to earn your trust," he wrote.

The digital currency, called Libra, is scheduled to launch in the next six to 12 months. Facebook is taking the lead on building Libra and its underlying technology; its more than two dozen partners will help fund, build and govern the system. Facebook hopes to raise as much as $1 billion from existing and future partners to support the effort.

© AP/AAP Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Company officials emphasised that Libra is a way of sending money across borders without incurring significant fees, such as those charged by Western Union and other international money-transfer services. Fees typically start at a few dollars but can be much higher when paying with a credit card. Shares in Western Union fell two percent in morning trading.

Libra could also open up online commerce to huge numbers of people around the world who currently don't have bank accounts or credit cards.

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The social media giant is announcing Libra, a cryptocurrency it is creating with partners including Uber, PayPal, Visa and Spotify. Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending

Facebook already rules daily communication for more than 2 billion people around the world. Now it wants its own currency , too. Facebook formed the Calibra subsidiary to create a new digital currency similar to Bitcoin for global use, one that could drive more e-commerce on its services and

"If you fast forward a number of years, consumers all over the world will have the ability to access the world economy," Marcus said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Facebook also could use its own currency to drive more people to make purchases from ads on its social media sites, said Gartner analyst Avivah Litan, who based her comments on press reports about Libra that preceded Facebook's formal announcement. "This is about fostering more sales within an ad to get more business from advertisers to make ads more interesting on Facebook," she said.

Backing by familiar corporations might also make Libra the first Bitcoin-like currency with mass appeal. Such "cryptocurrencies" have generally failed to catch on despite a devout following among curious investors and innovators. Bitcoin itself remains shrouded in secrecy and fraud concerns, not to mention wild value fluctuations, making it unappealing for the average shopper.

Libra will be different, Facebook says, in part because its value will be pegged to a basket of established currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, the euro, the yen and others. Each purchase of Libra will be backed by a reserve fund of equal value held in real-world currencies to stabilise Libra's value.

All The Big Questions We Have About Facebook's New Digital Currency

Facebook’s new cryptocurrency is big news — and there are still a lot of big questions to be answered. Credit Cards Are Now Offering 0% Interest Until 2020 Find out more on Finder Ad Finder.com.au After about two years of work in Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters, the digital currency Libra was unveiled to the world in a publicity blitz centered in San Francisco’s historic mint, a 150-year-old building that used to be home to a third of the American gold reserve. So Mark Zuckerberg is officially getting into the money business.

Wedbush analyst Ives said how well it is received will boil down to execution and "how comfortable consumers feel around Facebook and cryptocurrency."

To be sure, recent history reminds us that many big Facebook announcements never really take off. Two years ago, for instance, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised that "augmented reality ," in which phones and other devices project digital images into real-world surroundings, would be a major focus for the company. Such AR applications remain all but invisible today. Same goes for the online shopping chatbots that Zuckerberg unveiled a year earlier, saying they would revolutionise e-commerce in its Messenger app.

Facebook won't run Libra directly; instead, the company and its partners are forming a nonprofit called the Libra Association, headquartered in Geneva, that will oversee the new currency and its use. The association will be regulated by Swiss financial authorities, Facebook said.

"No single company should operate this," Marcus said. "It should be a public good."

Facebook's new Calibra subsidiary is developing a digital wallet app to make it easier for people to buy, send and use Libra.

Libra partners will create incentives to get people and merchants to use the coin. That could range from Uber discounts to a Libra bonus paid when users set up a Calibra wallet, although the companies haven't laid out specifics.

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© Supplied Facebook hope the currency could drive more e-commerce on its services and boost ads on its platforms.

Many privacy questions remain unanswered, though. Cryptocurrencies such as Libra store all transactions on a widely distributed, encrypted "ledger" known as the blockchain. That could make the Libra blockchain a permanent record of all purchases or cash transfers every individual makes, even if they're stored under pseudonyms rather than real names. Facebook said people can keep their individual transactions from appearing on the blockchain by using Calibra's wallet app, though in that case, Calibra would have your data instead.

Calibra pledges that it won't share transaction data from details of Libra user's financials with Facebook unless compelled to do so in criminal cases. Still, if people are using Facebook products to buy things and send money, it's possible Facebook will be able to track some data about shopping and money transferring habits.

Calibra won't require users to have a Facebook account to use Libra. And it will allow people to send Libra back and forth on two of Facebook's core messaging apps — WhatsApp and Messenger. Instagram messages won't be included, at least at first.

Earlier this year, Zuckerberg announced a new privacy-focused vision for the company after months of backlash for its treatment of personal customer information. Zuckerberg's vision — which has mostly not been detailed publicly — will rely heavily on privacy-shielded messaging apps in an attempt to make the services more about private, one-to-one connections.

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Many analysts believe Zuckerberg wants to create a U.S. version of the Chinese service WeChat, which combines social networking, messaging and payments in a single app. Libra would take Facebook a step closer to that end.

Pictures: 31 things you didn't know about Mark Zuckerberg

1/32 SLIDES © Paul Sakuma/AP Photo

Facebook chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg turns 31 on May 14. He was born at White Plains in New York, United States. Here's a look at some facts you may not know about the young billionaire, who co-founded the world's largest social networking site when he was just a teenager.

*All the figures quoted are in USD.

2/32 SLIDES © REX/Sipa Press

He created a messaging software called Zucknet at the early age of 12. The software alerted his dentist father of the presence of any patient in the waiting room.

3/32 SLIDES © Pau Barrena/Bloomberg

During his time at the Harvard University in 2003, Zuckerberg developed a ‘hot or not’ website called FaceMash, where the user had to vote for the best-looking person from a selection of images of Harvard dorm students. The college shut it down within days, citing breaching of security and individual privacy as reasons. Zuckerberg had to tender a public apology for the incident.

4/32 SLIDES © ROBERT GALBRAITH/Newscom/Reuters

FaceMash.com was subsequently sold for $30,201 in 2010 on the Flippa marketplace.

5/32 SLIDES © Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

His favorite color is blue; that’s because the geek suffers from red/green color blindness. No wonder Facebook’s main color is blue.

6/32 SLIDES © David Ramos/Getty Images

Zuckerberg launched thefacebook.com from his Harvard dormitory room in February 2004 as a platform for college students to stay connected virtually. He later dropped "the" from its name after moving to Palo Alto, California.

7/32 SLIDES © Noah Berger/Bloomberg

Zuckerberg has been involved in many legal controversies over Facebook, but his longest legal battle was against the twins, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. They accused him of stealing their idea of Facebook. However, in 2009, they finally ended the battle with a settlement of over $60 million.

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(Pictured) Cameron (L) and Tyler Winklevoss leave a federal appeals court in San Francisco, California, United States, on Jan. 11, 2011.

8/32 SLIDES © Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

During his time in high school, he co-developed a music app called Synapse Media Player that could use artificial intelligence to analyze a user's music listening habits. Both Microsoft and AOL offered his millions of dollars to develop the app further, but he chose to take admission at the Harvard University.

9/32 SLIDES © AP Photo/Facebook, Allyson Magda Photography

Zuckerberg got married to his longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan (L) in 2012. Also a Harvard alumnus, Chan was among the first few people who joined Facebook in 2004.

10/32 SLIDES © ASSOCIATED PRESS

He even took Chinese lessons to be able to communicate with his wife's family.

11/32 SLIDES © Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

He believes in charity, which is why he signed the Giving Pledge in 2010, along with Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. According to the pledge, the person commits to donating the majority of his or her wealth to charity.

12/32 SLIDES © Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Though Zuckerberg's Facebook profile has Orson Scott Card's sci-fi novel "Ender's Game" listed on it, he told The New Yorker in 2010 that his favorite book is "The Aeneid" by Virgil.

13/32 SLIDES © NORBERT VON DER GROEBEN/Newscom/Reuters

Zuckerberg (C) made his debut on the Forbes list of world's billionaires in 2008. At 23, he was the youngest-ever self-made billionaire to feature on the list—ranked at 785.

14/32 SLIDES © Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

In 2011, with an estimated wealth of $17.5 billion, he broke into the Top 20 list of Forbes' richest people in the United States. He is currently the world's 16th richest person with an estimated wealth of $34.5 billion, according to the Forbes 2015 list.

15/32 SLIDES © Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Zuckerberg (R) drives a black Acura TSX which, according to him, is "safe, comfortable, not ostentatious."

16/32 SLIDES © REX/Kristoffer Tripplaar/ Sipa U

When you type @[4:0] in the Facebook comment box, Zuckerberg's name will appear automatically. Try it out!

17/32 SLIDES © Rick Wilking/Newscom/Reuters

The billionaire CEO had self-designed his wife's wedding ring that cost him just $25,000. The ring has a ruby in the middle, with diamonds on both sides.

18/32 SLIDES © AP Photo/Eric Risberg

Did you know that you cannot block Zuckerberg on Facebook? Well, that’s true.

19/32 SLIDES © Robert Galbraith/Newscom/Reuters

He has a pet—a type of Hungarian Sheepdog—named Beast. The lucky pet has a Facebook page of his own with two million page 'likes'!

20/32 SLIDES © Peter Barreras/Invision/AP

In 2013, Zuckerberg and his wife donated 18 million shares of Facebook stock to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. The shares were valued at around $1 billion.

21/32 SLIDES © Paul Sakuma/AP Photo

According to his official Facebook page, some of his favorite musicians are Daft Punk, Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Shakira.

22/32 SLIDES © Adam Berry/Bloomberg News

He has over 50 patents in his name.

23/32 SLIDES © David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

According to Zuckerberg's official Facebook page, one of his favorite quotes is by Albert Einstein: "Make things as simple as possible but no simpler."

24/32 SLIDES © Kelvin Ma/Bloomberg

In 2011, he became the most-followed user on social networking site Google+—overtaking even Google’s co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

25/32 SLIDES © Sipa Press/REX

He is also on Twitter since 2009. His handle is @finkd. While he has over 335,000 followers on Twitter, he follows 823 people and the number of his tweets is just 19.

26/32 SLIDES © Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

In 2014, Zuckerberg donated $25 million to the Centers for Disease Control Foundation to help fight Ebola in West Africa.

27/32 SLIDES © Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Since 2013, the billionaire draws an annual wage of just $1 as the CEO of Facebook, making him the company's lowest-paid employee.

28/32 SLIDES © Paul Morris/Bloomberg

In 2010, Zuckerberg was named Time magazine's Person of the Year.

29/32 SLIDES © Bloomberg; c.Col Pics/Everett/REX

"The Social Network," a movie based on Zuckerberg’s (L) life and about the founding of Facebook, was released in 2010. Jesse Eisenberg (R) played Zuckerberg's character in the film. The movie won the Golden Globe award for Best Motion Picture in 2011.

30/32 SLIDES © Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo

In 2011, he turned vegetarian—saying he would only eat meat of animals that he killed himself.

31/32 SLIDES © Paul Sakuma/AP Photo

Often seen in his trademark jeans and tee shirt, Zuckerberg topped the list of GQ's Worst-Dressed Men of Silicon Valley in 2011.

32/32 SLIDES © Steve Jennings/Getty Images for MerchantCantos

However, as a symbol of how serious and important the year 2009 was, given that recession hit the United States in 2008, he wore a tie for the entire 2009.