Libra Project: Facebook Stablecoin Aims to Conquer Online Payments Market, Reports Suggest

Most recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook is talking to major payment networks Visa and MasterCard to raise a $1 billion for its crypto project, which reportedly entails a stablecoin along with a crypto-powered online payments system.

In February 2019, The New York Times wrote that Facebook is "Hoping to succeed where Bitcoin failed," revealing more details about the social media titan's alleged crypto project.

Notably, the story mentions that the crypto project is codenamed "Libra Project," while Facebook has recently acquired the rights to the "Libra" trademark, as per media reports.

Specifically, the publication argues that Facebook is planning to launch a cryptocurrency-based in-house payments system, and is in talks with financial firms, applications and e-commerce merchants.

Notably, the in-house payments might be performed via a user's Facebook profile.

The social media behemoth might start paying its users with Facebook Coin - the unconfirmed name of the token - for viewing ads, shopping on Facebook or interacting with other content.

Either way, given that Facebook boasts more than 1.5 billion daily users, if Project Libra succeeds, it threatens the card networks' dominance over global payments - especially within developing countries, where social-media platforms form the basis of internet commerce.

"I see Facebook Coin as an attempt by Facebook to go up against WeChat by moving the US Dollar into a private online payment system," Hartej Sawhney, co-founder of smart contracts auditing firm Hosho, told Cointelegraph.

"Facebook has had their eyes feasted on the remittances and payments market of India for years, which is interesting because India's government has been announcing a country wide ban on cryptocurrencies."

"If Facebook is indeed aiming to eliminate credit card fees with its new crypto payment network, it raises the question of how it hopes to make money from the thing, especially if it comes alongside the company granting its users privacy and giving up surveillance revenue," Nathaniel Popper, technology reporter at The New York Times, who first reported on the social media giant's plan to raise a $1 billion sum for its cryptocurrency project earlier in April, tweeted.