Facebook’s cryptocurrency wallet project ‘Calibra’ has now been renamed as ‘Novi’

Among different apps and platforms like Coinbase, Shopify, Uber, and some more, Facebook is also a member of the Libra Association, which is an organization that deals with global payments and provides a system with financial infrastructure to empower people all over the world.

After becoming a member of the Libra Association, Facebook started its subsidiary project called Calibra, which is meant to build a Libra-based cryptocurrency wallet integrated within Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Messenger.

However, a new development is that Facebook has renamed project Calibra as ‘Novi’. This term Novi is derived from two Latin words, ‘Novus (new)’ and ‘via(way).’

This is Facebook’s own, personal project which is headed by David Marcus. It is independent of the Libra blockchain.

Novi’s first project is going to be a crypto-currency wallet, in association with the Libra. The ideology behind this Novi wallet is that it will be a standalone app, which will be downloadable on the smartphones easily. It will be integrated into the WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. The good thing is that this Novi account can be created even if the user does not have a Facebook or WhatsApp account.

Once the Novi app is downloaded, users can choose the options from its menu to send and receive money through the Novi crypto-currency wallet.

To ensure the safety and security of all transactions and to avoid the instances of money laundering, Novi will ask for a photo of a government-issued ID card or document to sign in. Also, Novi promises to make the transaction instant and quick, without any hidden fees. The money cannot be sent or received anonymously too, due to the ID requirement during the sign-in process. So, it can be hoped that these transactions will be as transparent and smooth as they are promising them to be.

It is not known yet if the company will charge some fee transparently from the users or not? But Novi is pretty sure that there will be no hidden or surprise charges for the users at any point.

The Libra Association made some important changes in the cryptocurrency protocol, rules, and regulations recently. Their updated White Paper mentions these changes and states that the association is not building a stablecoin tied to fiat currencies, exchange-traded commodities, and securities on a worldwide level.


The Libra Association has also mentioned that once they launch, they will peg to several stablecoins that will be further backed by fiat currencies like USD, GBP, SGD, and EUR. All the members of the Libra Association, including Novi which is based on these Libra cryptocurrency protocols will be able to make transactions with these fiat currencies as LibraUSD, LibraEUR, LibraSGD or LibraGBP.

Novi will also be able to convert fiat money to crypto-assets so that users will be able to cash out their cryptocurrencies to the regular fiat currencies.

Sadly, Novi will only be available for several countries initially, and its launch will be after the launch of the Libra Association’s network. So, aside from waiting to enjoy this hassle-free transaction system, we cannot do anything else but to hope that it is actually as good as being promised.



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