Facebook announced today that it would be completely rebranding the wallet for its long - anticipated cryptocurrency — perhaps in an attempt to shake off itstroubledreputation .
“ Today , we ’re unrestrained to introduceNovi — the unexampled name and brand for the digital wallet that will help people send and hold Libra digital currencies , ” said Novi ’s head , David Marcus , in a companyblog postearlier today . “ While we ’ve changed our name from Calibra , we have n’t modify our farseeing - condition commitment to helping multitude around the worldly concern access affordable financial service . ”
Calibra , as the wallet was initially called , was introduced by the companylast yearas a associate for the company ’s plotted cryptocurrency , Libra . The new name change comes after a point of relative calm for the caller ’s crypto effort , followinga torrentof review from multiple federal bodies , alawsuitover its logo , anddefundingfrom more than a few of its primary investor . What better clip to do a little rebranding than when an all - consuming coronavirus pandemic overwhelms the news cycle ?
Graphic: (Facebook)
The blog post did n’t give a reason for the name change to Novi , though per Marcus , the name was “ inspired ” by the Latin words “ novus ” for “ raw ” and “ via ” for “ way . ”
“ It ’s a fresh way to place money , and Novi ’s Modern ocular identity and design represent the fluid movement of digital currency , ” he explained . The alteration also offer the wallet a new identity that ’s entirely separate from Libra ’s argument thus far . Another reason the company might want to divest the identity operator of the up-to-dateness and the pocketbook proper : unlikeLibra ( which is run by the nonprofit Libra Association ) , the Novi wallet is a tool that ’s both have and operate by Facebook proper . That means — if the regretful come to the defective , and Libra ultimately go belly - up — this billfold could be usedindependentlyof the cryptocurrency via support for say , a digital currency that ’s democratic .
As other reporters have previouslypointed out , one of Libra ’s full-grown selling points as a currency is its potency in acquire state , which is where the currency — and the upcoming wallet — will be rolled out . Per Marcus , when the wallet debuts in these land , it ’ll come with “ features that will make grouchy - border money transfers clamant , safe , and with no secret fees , ” along with integrations into Whatsapp and Messenger .
Though the exact launch day of the month is somewhatin limbountil the aforesaid regulatory egress are ironed out , the gradation to secure a novel name — and a new identity element — suggests that this entry might be sooner than we call back .
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