Facebook ready to launch Libra

FACEBOOK will launch its crypto-currency in a matter of weeks, despite prominent backers and regulators refusing to back the asset.

Libra was first announced to great fanfare back in June 2019 with the ambition of becoming a global currency.

But since then the project has been dogged by problems.

The launch in January will see Facebook release a single digital coin backed by the US dollar, downgrading ambitions for it to be backed by a basket of currencies.

Facebook has lost a number of highprofile backers for the crypto-currency including Mastercard, Visa, Vodafone and Ebay which all distanced themselves from the controversial project.

Last year the Bank of England and other central banks warned that Libra could threaten monetary stability and become a hotbed for money laundering.