Flawed, derided, feared: Facebook’s proposal for a new virtual currency, revealed last week, has already provoked a backlash. But might it end up blowing the financial system wide open anyway?

The idea marks a “long overdue” attack by Big Tech on the payments industry, says David Yermack, a finance professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Apple has carved out a limited role for its own payments system on the iPhone: by contrast, Facebook’s plan is a full-frontal assault. The planned launch, within a year, of its Libra digital currency would have the backing of partners like the payment networks Visa and Mastercard and internet companies Uber and eBay.

Facebook itself would create a “killer app” to take advantage of this digital money: a payment system embedded into its messaging services, so that users can easily and cheaply send money to friends or make purchases. With 2.4bn users, the social networking company could single-handedly propel cryptocurrencies into the mainstream, according to its supporters, fulfilling hopes first stirred by bitcoin a decade ago.