Written by Adam Tarlowski:
Facebook, the website that started as a popular college experiment and turned into the world’s largest social media platform, has excelled at connecting people around the globe. One area where they have failed is at connecting people to payments. That may be changing, as a recent announcement is bringing this goal back to life. Just this week, a new strategy called Facebook Financial, or F2 for short, emerged. The goal of the new division is simple; consolidate its massive user base into one integrated payment system, rather than lose its followers to more attractive platforms like Venmo, PayPal and Google Pay.
Libra was the proposed solution to Facebook’s payment problems in 2019, initially grabbing worldwide attention and support. Soon after, it drew the ire of regulators world wide. The Libra Association went from the hottest news in crypto to nearly irrelevant when PayPal, eBay, Visa, Stripe and other payment giants abandoned the project. Cryptocurrency fanatics saw this as a major blow to Libra’s legitimacy and they were left with no clear timeline on a re-emergence of the project.
The excitement and speculation are growing once again, as Facebook begins its endeavor back into the world of payments. Heading the new F2 group is David Marcus, the co-creator of Libra, who has a certifiably proven resume. Speculators went as far as to wonder if Facebook Financial would steer the focus away from cryptocurrencies to a more traditional payment system. Facebook’s spokesperson publicly announced, “We want to be able to give people the ability to make a payment however they choose — debit, credit or Libra digital currencies,” putting those questions to rest. From the looks of it, Libra remains on the Facebook friends list, still waiting for its request to be accepted by the rest of the world.