Facebook announced this morning that Libra, its global cryptocurrency, will officially launch next year alongside an underlying blockchain-based network to support it. While Facebook did not say anything on Tuesday that had not already widely been reported, the company's announcement ended months of speculation about the nature of the coin. Read the white paper. Libra will act as a stablecoin, opposed to a speculative asset like bitcoin. It will be backed by a reserve of assets. Facebook imagines Libra will be used mainly to transfer money between individuals, but the ultimate goal is to create a mainstream cryptocurrency. The company plans to run the project through the end of this year but eventually plans to cede it to a larger community. Along with launching the coin, Facebook plans to create its own subsidiary, Calibra, to build on top of the blockchain. Kevin Weil, Facebook's vice president of product, is in charge of leading that project. This is a developing story. Please follow @libra on Twitter for more details. We'll publish an additional newsletter this afternoon with more thoughts and reaction from the crypto community. | 
