Spotify To Be One Of The First Backers of Facebook’s Libra

By Rishma Banerjee

Though rumours had been doing the rounds for quite some time now, it has now been confirmed that Spotify is to be one of the first backers of Facebook’s new cryptocurrency, which is on track for a 2020 launch. As was reported earlier by us, companies like eBay, Uber, Lyft, MasterCard, Visa, Paypal, and Stripe had already pledged their support for the venture, and now, the music streaming giant will be joining their ranks. Altogether, these companies will be forming the “Libra Association,” which is intended to be an independent ‘not-for-profit’ organisation.

Libra has made promises to enable users to send money anywhere, instantly with only a smartphone. It’s meant to be as easy as sending a text message.

Spotify clarified its reason for getting involved in this project by way of a blog post. The company believes that the cryptocurrency will be having a direct influence on one of many markets that Spotify is targeting right now.

Chief Premium Business Officer of the company, Alex Norstrom, told reporters that one of the most significant problems which is being faced by Spotify is its lack of easy payment systems. This, as a result, is affecting the financially underserved markets much more. However, Libra could change this. Norstrom said,

“In joining the Libra Association, there is an opportunity to better reach Spotify’s total addressable market, eliminate friction and enable payments in mass scale.”

Spotify will be enabling their users to utilise Libra as payment for its services. But, the streaming service currently has no plans to use blockchain technology to let users to pay artists directly.

It’s still quite early for Libra. It was just announced today, after all, and won’t be released until 2020. Spotify is the sole music streaming service currently on its board. The company will inevitably have a close-up look at how the technology develops and will likely integrate the Libra into its services from day one.

Rishma Banerjee

Rishma is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and has a special place in her life for sifting through all sorts of random trivia, thank you very much.

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