Facebook has announced the launch of its own digital currency in a major new push into the worldwide financial services industry. The new currency will be a cryptocurrency similar to bitcoin. A cryptocurrency is a kind of money that does not exist in the form of bills or coins. Governments and banks do not oversee the money. Instead, it is exchanged digitally between buyers and sellers using secret codes for security. A network of computers records cryptocurrency activity between users. The activity is included in a “ledger,” or list, known as the blockchain. The blockchain permits the activity records to be checked and stored securely. People keep their cryptocurrency in digital wallets that operate in a way similar to online banks. Facebook is calling its cryptocurrency Libra. It expects to launch the service publicly in the first half of next year.