Facebook's Cryptocurrency Libra: What is it? Can it Fly?



My latest article on Impakter, here's the opening:

Once again, Facebook is shaking the world. After multiple privacy violations, with a potential $5bn fine from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which opened an investigation in response to the Cambridge Analytica revelations, now Facebook has come up with  Libra, a brave new cryptocurrency project.

Touted as better than any cryptocurrency to date, stable, secure, fast and protected, the Libra is Facebook’s wager that it can shake up the financial world and make it better. Make it work for the 1.7 billion unbanked people in the world. Financial regulators around the world are dubious and one thing is certain: Facebook will need to engage in battle to get its project approved.

The idea behind Libra and its digital wallet Calibra is simple enough. Sending money to a friend or paying for something will be as easy as sending a Facebook Message. To do this, you will have to wait for the official launch next year but you can sign up for early access when it’s ready here.

In technical terms, it is far more complicated.

Many questions were answered in the 100-page white paper released by Facebook and available on its Libra organization website (not to be confused with the Libra Foundation or the Libra Group), in the Q&A session the press had with Facebook managers in San Francisco’s Mint building and in a Mark Zuckerberg post on Facebook.

While not all answers were satisfactory, a general picture emerges:
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Read the rest on Impakter, there are some serious concerns about this. Click here to read.

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