Note: I originally published this on 22 June 2019 for Premium members of Exponential View. I opened it to the public on 12 Oct 2019 as the Libra coalition began to unwind.
Happy Saturday!
The regular Sunday newsletter will be in your inbox in less than 24 hours, but in the meantime, I couldn’t help but send out an essay outlining my thinking on Facebook’s efforts to create a global digital currency.
Tldr; the goal is worthy of a mixed praise, but there is a number of issues which make me question Facebook’s ability to pull it off. Trust is only one of them. Read on.
What is Libra?
Facebook intends to create a simple global digital currency. It is impossible to avoid analysing this so I will. Bear with me. Some of this gets complicated. To help us get through this, metaphors will be mixed with insouciance, abandon and a muddle of whimsy.
Libra will be a so-called stablecoin backed by a basket of real currencies, A stablecoin won’t suffer the volatility of many other cryptocurrencies and c…