Tomorrow, Facebook is expected to release full details of its new “cryptocurrency” project Libra — as always, Twitter has lots to say.
Few concrete facts about Facebook’s Libra (formally known as GlobalCoin) have been made public so far. Reports indicate the likes of Mastercard, Visa, Stripe, and PayPal have already paid a $10 million fee to become validators on the network, which allows untapped access to related data.
Facebook’s rumored goal is to attract 100 companies to join the Libra Association, which would see Zuckerberg and co. net a cool $1 billion right off the bat.
I made a bet with Facebook executives 3 years ago that they are going to launch a coin, they were laughing back then… $FB coin is going to make #Crypto mass market
— Yoni Assia (@yoniassia) June 14, 2019
Key distinction:
Facebook’s Libra is an incremental *evolutionary* build on the current payments system, one step further on the way to endgame WeChat financial surveillance.
Bitcoin is *revolutionary* — a completely new technological path that could preserve financial privacy. https://t.co/hVvn7GkWqQ
— Alex Gladstein (@gladstein) June 15, 2019
Unlike Libra, Bitcoin is a permissionless system, in which anyone with access to the computational resources required to run a full node (or a mining rig) can join. These are available for purchase for significantly less than $10 million.
We do know Libra will be a “stablecoin” pegged to a raft of international fiat currencies to reduce volatility, but the social media giant is yet to formally disclose exactly which ones (or even precisely how its value will be calculated and backed).
It's an odd feeling rewatching the Social Network and rooting for @tylerwinklevoss twins this time. #Libracoin
— Yaz Khoury (@Yazanator) June 16, 2019
I cant believe there are people advocating Libracoin. These companies controll all of your data and now they will control your money too. It's the beginning of the social credit era in the west.
— Beastlorion (@Beastlyorion) June 15, 2019
Facebook reportedly seeks to make Libra accessible to everyone, and will pitch it as a method of providing the 1.7 billion “unbanked” adults around the world with financial services (a number apparently sourced from a 2017 report published by the Global Findex Database).
The advent of Libra will place the social media giant within the realm of fintech. Despite it being a stablecoin, some pundits say Facebook’s sheer reach could see it have a negative impact on Bitcoin.
Other Twitter commentators hilariously believe this is all a conspiracy, and it’s really Ripple (XRP) that will power Libra, which seems an impressive exercise in optimism.
Facebook's new crypto currency "Libra" is bad news for Bitcoin. Facebook will target the very market Bitcoin is counting on for growth, the unbanked in nations with high inflation. Libra will be stable, and much easier and cheaper to use as a medium of exchange than Bitcoin.
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) June 14, 2019
Connect the dots on ripple post from April and recent Libra coin partnership announcement…:) $xrp pic.twitter.com/e4Qr6pROLX
— Aesthetic (@vinwapz) June 17, 2019
Facebook is expected to publish the Libra white paper tomorrow, and could launch a testnet version of its blockchain as early as next week, but it’s clear nobody really knows what will come next.
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