Payment system operators Visa Inc (NYSE:V), Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA). and PayPal Holding Inc., Uber Technologies Inc., which provides ride-hailing and food delivery services, and a number of other major companies have backed Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB) new cryptocurrency, which the Internet giant plans to unveil next week and launch next year.
Finance and e-commerce companies, venture capitalists and telecommunications firms are investing approximately $10 million each in a consortium that will manage the cryptocurrency, called Libra, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing informed sources.
Users of the new currency will be able to pay with it when making purchases on Facebook and on websites on the Internet, as well as send currency to each other.
According to sources, negotiations with a number of partners are ongoing, and the final composition of the consortium may change. Currently, Facebook is supported by over a dozen companies.
Some consortium members still have not received information about how the currency will work and what their role will be. However, sources say that neither Facebook nor members of the consortium, called the Libra Association, will manage the currency directly.