Zuckerberg: Libra is fully handled by the foundation, and Facebook is developing the Libra wallet

Since the second half of last year, Facebook's digital currency plan, Libra, has been faltering, as its partners have begun to flinch after national regulators opposed the plan.

During this week's earnings call, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the work of the Libra program is being handled by the Libra Foundation, highlighting the relationship between the foundation and the social network giant Keep separate.

Facebook has been working on payments, such as Facebook Pay and WhatsApp Payments.

• Despite bank ban, cryptocurrency exchange Zebpay reopens in India
• Red Cross, we have a way for you: it's time for some new technology!
• Reflecting on the epidemic in Wuhan, what can the blockchain do for disease control and early warning?

Zuckerberg said the company "does a lot" in commerce and payments because "there are many different areas where people try to do things."

As for WhatsApp Payments, announced last year, Zuckerberg said it will be part of Facebook Pay, a service that will allow users to simply enter credit cards once and for all to make purchases in any Facebook app including Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram To provide an accessible checkout experience across other applications.

Zuckerberg said the WhatsApp Payments feature has been tested in India, with 1 million users participating in 2018, and will be rolled out in multiple countries over the next six months.

Target markets include populous countries such as India, Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia.

Regarding the Libra project, Zuckerberg said:

"We have taken multiple approaches to payments, where things like how we make payments and WhatsApp or Facebook Pay are generally built on traditional payment infrastructure, and the long-term work we propose is around Libra, now Handled by the independent Libra Foundation. "

But he said the company is developing a digital wallet for use with Libra "to make certain payment infrastructures around the world more efficient, especially for things like cross-border transfers."

Zuckerberg added:

"And if you consider that there are many companies today that do payments and other businesses that are national and in one country and not many people have the incentive to make it work well all over the world, so that's us Where it thinks it can be added. "

He emphasized that Facebook's focus on the payment space aims to make it easier for small businesses to get paid, set up storefronts and evaluate the effectiveness of advertising.

The Facebook official said: "Our goal is to ensure that every individual small business owner has the same opportunities and the ability to use the same types of complex tools as previously only available to large companies."

Libra, released in June last year, has been continuously criticized by global lawmakers and regulators for fear that it could be used for money laundering and disrupting the global financial system.

In testimony at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington last November, Zuckerberg acknowledged that Libra was a "dangerous project" and insisted that U.S. regulators approve it before it could start. He said Facebook would even leave the Libra Association if other companies try to issue the currency without approval.

Major financial partners such as Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, Stripe, and eBay have abandoned the project months after the project was unveiled.

But Libra may have indirectly helped persuade central banks around the world to issue their own digital currencies.

China is preparing to become the first country to launch a central bank digital currency project. The People's Bank of China (PBoC) said last month that it has basically completed the "top" development of DCEP (digital currency electronic payment).

A study released by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) last month showed that about 20% of the 66 central banks surveyed said they are likely to issue digital currencies within the next six years, compared with about 10% in the same period last year.

One in ten said they are likely to do so within the next three years.

We will continue to update Blocking; if you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us!