More than two weeks after the announcement of a new digital\ncurrency project called Libra, the Facebook chief executive on the project\nreiterates that the project will not be controlled by the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Facebook will not control the network, the currency,\nor the reserve backing it,,” wrote David Marcus, head of the company’s\nblockchain group, in an article on Wednesday. ” Facebook will only be one\namong over a hundred members of the Libra Association by launch. We will not\nhave any special rights or privileges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marcus also explained that Libra’s wallet, called Calibra,\nwould be only one of many wallets, but acknowledged that Facebook would\ngenerally gain business benefits from making it easier for people to use\nFacebook’s money transfer services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The need to repeat these points only two weeks later\nsuggests that Facebook will face a fierce battle to get people to trust them\nwith their financial resources. It also highlights a fundamental contradiction\nin the project: while Facebook designed Libra under secrecy and oversaw its\nannouncement, it intends to provide control of the encrypted currency to a\ngroup of partners. At launch, these partners include non-profit companies,\ncredit card companies and intermediaries among others, but major financial\ninstitutions have so far been away from the project. A control transition may\nnot be successful if Facebook can not convince partners that there is a reason\nto join.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is not immediately clear why Facebook has implemented the\nambitious project of designing a completely new digital currency, rather than\njust creating a payment system that works with Facebook products. There are\nmany other examples of technology companies that facilitate payments, such as\nApple Pay and PayPal’s Venmo, which allow people to transfer funds\nelectronically without requiring them to convert them to and from a new type of\ncurrency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marcus addressed this by saying that the goal of the new\ndigital currency is to help people who are not well served by the current\nbanking systems, especially in developing countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
” With Libra, anyone with a $40 smartphone and\nconnectivity will have the ability to securely safeguard their assets, access\nthe world economy, transact at a much lower cost, and over time access a whole\nrange of financial services,”, Marcus declared. \u201cWe firmly believe that if\nLibra is successful, it can be a non-linear step change for billions of people\nwho need it the most.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The novelty and ambition of the idea do not seem to scare\ninvestors. Facebook has risen about 4% since the company announced the launch\nof its new crypto currency, Libra.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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