How Facebooks Libra would work: Yahoo U

But what makes Libra novel and different from Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies is its partnership with a consortium of companies like Lyft, Uber, Spotify, and Vodafone to help it develop and use the blockchain.

Instead of having to convert the Libra into domestic currency to call an Uber or pay for your monthly Vodafone bill, users could pay directly in units of Libra.

But a slew of companies have bailed from the project: Booking Holdings, Mercado Pago, PayPal, eBay, MasterCard, and also Visa and Stripe. David Marcus, the head of the Facebook subsidiary heading Libras development, told Yahoo Finance thatnon-founding members of Libra will still be able to transact in Librawhenever the project launches.

Facebook has 2.7 billion users and if a substantial amount of people on that platform opt to use Calibra wallets as a de facto bank, there are concerns that the blockchain could be large enough to present what they callsystemic risk to the financial system.

Libra also bills itself as what they call a pseudonymous set up, where Calibra wallets are tied to addresses that are not linked to their real world identities.

Although Facebook insists that its subsidiary company, Calibra, will be handling the project separately, lawmakers have pressed hard on Zuckerberg to assure that users will be protected.