11 - Libra | Randomly Typed Podcast

Show notes

New cryptocurrency proposed by Facebook.
Official announced on June 18, 2019 and should be released by 2020
There will be a consortium controlling the currency. Initially will be 28 entities
- Universities, companies, non profit organizations
- Hoping to get up to 100 entities at launch
Could compete with WeChat Pay which is huge in china
- China is quickly going in the cashless direction
Mr. Weil and other Facebook executives have said Libra is likely to be most attractive to people in the developing world who don’t have easy access to cheap digital bank accounts and credit cards.
Should reduce the price of sending money
Facebook has a credibility problem
The libra will be controlled by the Libra Association
- Every decision will require ⅔ acceptance from the members
- “The association is the only party able to create (mint) and destroy (burn) Libra.”
People are wondering if it should be called cryptocurrency
They are trying to make a currency that has the same attributes as normal good currencies
- stability, low inflation, wide global acceptance, and fungibility.
  - is the property of a good or a commodity whose individual units are essentially interchangeable,
The currency will be backed (pegged) to “real world” assets
- “as the value of the underlying assets moves, the value of one Libra in any local currency may fluctuate. “
- It’s how some other currencies were created: “to help instill trust in a new currency and gain widespread adoption during its infancy”
- “Since authorized resellers will always be able to sell Libra coins to the reserve at a price equal to the value of the basket, the Libra Reserve acts as a “buyer of last resort.”

Technical

Objectives

Able to scale to billions of accounts, which requires high transaction throughput, low latency, and an efficient, high-capacity storage system.
Highly secure, to ensure safety of funds and financial data.
Flexible, so it can power the Libra ecosystem’s governance as well as future innovation in financial services.
Still uses merklee tree
Uses LibraBFT which a protocol inspired by HotStuff
- Up to ⅓ of the network can be down
Let “them to read any data from any point in time and verify the integrity of that data using a unified framework.”
“The Libra Blockchain is pseudonymous and allows users to hold one or more addresses that are not linked to their real-world identity.”
Every member of the association will have the same validation power

Reactions

French government
- The same day as it was announced, France finance minister said “can’t and…must not happen” and that “it is out of question’’ for the cryptocurrency to “become a sovereign currency.””
US government
- Many US law makers are talking about it.
  - Brad Sherman: “that Libra could be worse than 9/11 by financing “the next horrific terrorist attack against Americans.””
  - Many committees are talking with facebook
  - Creator said they will be waiting to launch until “we have addressed all concerns fully.”