Can we trust Facebook when it comes to money? Since the social network announced plans to introduce the new digital currency Libra, a number of financial leaders around the world have sounded the alarm. Like Bitcoin, Libra would enable computer payments via block chain technology. But to make Libra less volatile than Bitcoin, Facebook plans to back it with a basket of real-world currencies like the US dollar, the euro and the Japanese Yen. What also sets Libra apart from Bitcoin is that it would be backed by big companies, including Visa, Uber, MasterCard, and PayPal. Facebook says that more than two dozen partners will help fund, build and govern the Libra system. Facebook hopes to raise as much as 1 billion US Dollars from existing and future partners to support the cryptocurrency effort. Libra is set to launch in 2020, but first, Facebook has to convince regulators. US lawmakers have grilled Facebook over its plans on the currency. Members of the Senate Banking Committee raised doubts that the tech company was ready to introduce its own money, based on past missteps over privacy and data breaches.

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