Facebook has announced on Tuesday a name change of its Calibra wallet subsidiary to Novi.
In a blog post the company said that the new name was inspired by the Latin words “novus” and “via,” which mean “new” and “way,” respectively. Novi Financial is the new name of the Facebook subsidiary that will develop the company’s digital wallet.
Along with the rebranding, the social media giant also redesigned its digital currency wallet platform, highlighting the Libra lines on the wallet logo.
“While we’ve changed our name from Calibra, we haven’t changed our long-term commitment to helping people around the world access affordable financial services,” the official announcement stated.
The name of the subsidiary has also been changed to Novi Financial and it will operate independently from Facebook, developing the official wallet of the social media giant-proposed digital currency Libra, now handled by the non-profit Libra Association.
As Facebook notes in its announcement, Novi will be available “when the Libra network is available”. Which could be soon, could be never – no one really knows for sure.
Facebook has faced varying levels of opposition to the project, with most of the initial Libra launch partners pulling their support over issues with regulation, data security and local government opposition. Indeed, various governments have raised concerns, and even flagged outright blocks of Facebook’s proposed payment network, to the point where it has seemed, at times, like Facebook would be better off simply letting it go entirely.
Most notable on this front is India, where Facebook is working to increase its market presence. Indian citizens transfer more funds through remittance (sending money back to family) than anyone else in the world, and a fee-free process to facilitate such could be huge, and could provide a significant boost for Facebook’s broader ambitions in the region.
