Libra is digital money which is also referred to as cryptocurrency. It does not much similar to bitcoins which is the most popular digital currency and is expected to be launched in next year.
It is the latest offering of Facebook which is the largest social media company in the world and once is launched; it will be a stablecoin and is less subject to extreme volatility associated with digital currency prices.
With Bitcoin, transactions are recorded anonymously in a public ledger called Blockchain. This is basically a database maintained by a computer network in which transactions are protected and almost never damaged. Libra also uses blockchain or distributed ledger technology. But unlike bitcoin, the Libra blockchain has access, meaning the transactions can only be added by a group of trusted parties.
Libra payments will be written in a new blockchain, which is still under construction called Calibra which will create and maintain the digital wallet of Facebook and work with Libra cryptocurrency. Because each currency is backed by traditional money in the bank to support a fixed price, libra will be on top of the current financial system.
Facebook will create a new digital wallet on its other services like WhatsApp and Messenger, making it easy to send money to contacts of the people. It also hired employees from other payment networks to help with their new cryptocurrency.
Therefore, it is different to the Bitcoin network, which can be accessed and maintained by anyone with sufficient hardware and internet access.
