Facebook Inc.’s new cryptocurrency is set to launch next week with a slew of major backers, according to a new report today from The Wall Street Journal.

The report said the cryptocurrency will debut with support from Mastercard Inc., Visa Inc., PayPal Holdings Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. along with support for about a dozen other companies. The support doesn’t simply involve on-paper agreements alone, with each company said to have invested at least $10 million into the project as part of the $1 billion Facebook was reported to be raising in May.

Tie-ups with the likes of Uber would suggest that the new cryptocurrency could be used to pay for rides, but some partners are said to be unaware of exactly how the cryptocurrency will work.

“It is still not entirely clear, even to some members of the consortium, how the coin will work or what their roles will be,” the Journal noted. “Regulatory hurdles in the U.S. and elsewhere are high.” The report went on to say that some participants are also concerned about the potential that the cryptocurrency could be used for nefarious purposes such as money laundering.

The report also names Stripe Inc., Booking.com and MercadoLibre Inc. as partners in the cryptocurrency. 

Facebook was first reported to be developing its own cryptocurrency in December. That report claimed that the social networking giant was working on a stablecoin, a form of cryptocurrency pegged to a fixed asset, in most cases the U.S. dollar.

A report June 5 suggested that Facebook sees launching a cryptocurrency as a way to facilitate transactions across borders without transaction fees. It was suggested that the cryptocurrency would be  “aggressively marketed” in developing nations where government-based currencies are more volatile.

Exactly what form the cryptocurrency takes and what Facebook’s pitch for it will be remain unclear. Some reports suggested that the launch date will be June 18.

Photo: Facebook