Facebook is changing the name of its digital wallet Calibra. The wallet, which is supposed to be used for holding Facebook Libra’s digital currencies, will be officially called Novi from now.
The company published a blog post this Tuesday, claiming that the new name and visual identity will represent a new way to send money. The new name was inspired by the Latin words “Novus” for “new” and “via” for “way”. It comes together with the new logo, which represents “the fluid movement of digital currencies” and since Novi is designed for Libra network, it incorporates the element of Libra logo as well.
The company plans to develop Novi both as a stand-alone app as well as an option integrated into Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp, which allows an instant fund transfer to the list of contacts. Reportedly, the users will be asked to use a government-issued ID to verify themselves before signing up. Meanwhile, the company assures, that fraud protections will be built in through the app. The company also states that no hidden charges for transferring funds will apply and 24/7 customer support will be available.
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Facebook, however, did not announce the launch date of the Novi digital wallet. The statement briefly mentioned, that company hopes to introduce the early version of it when the Libra network will be officially available. As it is clear yet, the start of Novi will be done in an initial set of countries, which are not specified yet.
The updates to Facebook Libra project
The launch of Novi, or previous Calibra digital wallet, was supposed to be Facebook’s first step in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
However, rebranding is just another update in the series of changes, that company has to go through to implement its Libra project. The ambitious project, revealed last summer, attempted to change the current financial system and create global stablecoin, that could be tied to various fiat currencies.
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Since the social media giant faced a lot of resistance and intense pressure from various governments around the world, Facebook had to change its plans this March. As it is known, the company currently plans to release multiple digital coins pegged to the existing government-backed currencies like the USD, EUR or GBP.
