Facebook’s venture into the crypto world has been met with skepticism, abuse, and congressional hearings, yet companies are still devoting huge amounts of resources into developing products to go on the Libra mainnet. ZenGo has made itself known in the Libra world by deploying support for the Libra testnet – becoming the first consumer-grade wallet to support Libra in the process. To activate Libra support, users simply have to select an option in the “Account” tab on the mobile wallet.
Still Early Days for Libra Support
Despite the huge milestone of adding Libra testnet support, ZenGo reminds its users that it’s still very much in development and is subject to frequent resets – meaning transaction history and data will be completely wiped. There is also a heap of bad news for Android Libra supporters, the ZenGo app is currently only available on iOS. As it stands, ZenGo is allowing iOS users to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, and BNB using their debit or credit card directly from its platform, as well as sending it to their own hardware crypto wallets.
Are People Really Buying into Libra?
While Libra has a number of noble promises in its whitepaper – such as bringing banking to the unbanked – do people really want to trust Facebook with their finances? After promising that it wasn’t recording your conversations, Facebook recently came out and admitted that it was covertly recording audio from its Messenger app and sending it to third parties. After this flagrant disregard for consumer privacy, is there any chance that Libra can be trusted? By using Libra, users are essentially giving Facebook complete access to their social and financial lives – a goldmine of a database that would be worth billions.
What’s the Point of the Testnet?
If you’re wondering why ZenGo bothered adding support for the testnet, the reason behind it is actually rather nice. By allowing users to play with the Libra testnet, ZenGo is giving novice crypto users the chance to come to terms with how transacting in digital currencies works, without risking their own money. Testnet money is essentially play money that will get periodically reset, meaning any mistakes you make aren’t long-lasting. It’s a rather evangelical way to help spread mass adoption and get users used to transacting in Libra before the mainnet goes live.
There is still a significant amount of time to go before Facebook is given the green light from congress to push the Libra mainnet live, but ZenGo is all ready and waiting for the day. It’s likely that as soon as the Libra mainnet goes live, ZenGo will begin offering support as a Libra wallet. Interestingly, ZenGo even beat Calibra to deploying the first functioning Libra wallet!
