Facebook's Digital Wallet Calibra Won't Launch in India

This week, in a transformational shift from a social network to a blockchain-led financial entity, Facebook unveiled its much ambitious plan with Libra cryptocurrency and Calibra digital wallet in center of everything. In its audacious plan, Facebook is aiming to use Libra to empower more than 1.7 billion people around the world who currently do not have a bank account and transform financial services across the world.

When Facebook first revealed its cryptocurrency plan in late last year, it was said that the its cryptocurrency will let users transfer money on WhatsApp messaging app and India will be first remittances market Facebook will be focusing at. However, in a reply to queries from TechCrunch, a Calibra spokesperson said that the digital wallet will not be rolling out to a number of markets that have taken a stand against cryptocurrency, or are sanctioned by the United States.

“The Libra Blockchain will be global, but it will be up to custodial wallet providers to determine where they will and will not operate. Calibra won’t be available in U.S.-sanctioned countries or countries that ban cryptocurrencies,” the spokesperson told TechCrunch.

Currently, India along with China and North Korea do not allow trading of cyptocurrencies.

But this has also led to confusion over clear picture of Facebook's India strategy as WhatsApp already offers a person-to-person (P2P) payments service in India called WhatsApp Pay. In fact, India is the only market where WhatsApp currently offers its payments service.

A WhatsApp spokesperson told TechCrunch that Facebook is committed to the efforts that it has made on WhatsApp Pay, which is built on top of Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a payments infrastructure backed by Indian government which is also the foundation of Google's G Pay and Amazon's 'Amazon Pay' payment apps in India and is driving hundreds of millions of financial transactions in the nation each month.

Data released by government-owned National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), who has developed UPI, revealed that the total UPI transactions reached 799.54 million in March 2019.

Currently, WhatsApp’s payments service is available to one million users in India and the messaging app is working with the government for a nationwide roll-out.

Facebook finally unveils its Cryptocurrency 'Libra' , Digital Wallet 'Calibra' and other Blockchain Plans

After much speculations and rumors, Facebook has finally unveiled its blockchain plans following numerous rumors about its 'GlobalCoins' project. Today, the company announced that the global cryptocurrency will actually be called 'Libra'.

Besides cryptocurrency Libra, which will launch in 2020 along with a blockchain-based network, Facebook is also launching a digital wallet called Calibra, which will have its own app and be built into WhatsApp and Messenger.

Calibra promises to keep your crypto dealings and your Facebook data private.



Founding members of the Libra Association, a not-for-profit which oversees the token’s development, includes Visa, Uber, Lyft, Spotify, PayPal, Mastercard, Stripe and Andreessen Horowitz, to name a few.

Facebook, Calibra and these other founding members will earn interest on the money users cash in (it will be held in reserve to keep Libra’s value stable)

In the white paper Facebook published today, the company states its mission is to “enable a simple global currency and financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people.”

"The world truly needs a reliable digital currency and infrastructure that together can deliver on the promise of “the internet of money," said the Whitepaper.

Securing your financial assets on your mobile device should be simple and intuitive. Moving money around globally should be as easy and cost-effective as — and even more safe and secure than — sending a text message or sharing a photo, no matter where you live, what you do, or how much you earn. New product innovation and additional entrants to the ecosystem will enable the lowering of barriers to access and cost of capital for everyone and facilitate frictionless payments for more people, says Facebook in its whitepaper.

Between the lines, Facebook may be poised to scale a global cryptocurrency (more so than Bitcoin or Ethereum). In Facebook’s words: "Mass-market usage of existing blockchains and cryptocurrencies has been hindered by their volatility and lack of scalability, which have, so far, made them poor stores of value and mediums of exchange."

On the selling side, Facebook has relationships with 7 million advertisers and 90 million small businesses. On the consumer side, it’s estimated that 2.1 billion people use Facebook (which includes WhatsApp, Instagram or Messenger) each day.

If successful, Libra could become something akin to the next PayPal -- an easy to set up payment method that’s universal and decentralized. Ironically, David Marcus, co-creator of Libra and long-time Facebook exec, is the former President of PayPal. It could also become a competitive banking system by offering access to folks in developing countries, reducing money transfer fees through Calibra and offering loans and credit to users.

The initial group of organizations that will work together on finalizing the association’s charter and become “Founding Members” upon its completion are, by industry:

• Payments: Mastercard, PayPal, PayU (Naspers’ fintech arm), Stripe, Visa


• Technology and marketplaces: Booking Holdings, eBay, Facebook/Calibra, Farfetch, Lyft, MercadoPago, Spotify AB, Uber Technologies, Inc.



• Telecommunications: Iliad, Vodafone Group


• Blockchain: Anchorage, Bison Trails, Coinbase, Inc., Xapo Holdings Limited


• Venture Capital: Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Initiatives, Ribbit Capital, Thrive Capital, Union Square Ventures


• Nonprofit and multilateral organizations, and academic institutions: Creative Destruction Lab, Kiva, Mercy Corps, Women’s World Banking