broke the of Mark Zuckerberg’s latest financial play: a hub for Facebook users that apparently “threatens to upend the traditional, lucrative plumbing of e-commerce.” The authors also state that this new platform will probably become the most ubiquitous exchange in the world, and they’re not wrong: one needs only to be reminded of Facebook’s massive social media presence.
Zuckerberg is still keeping this new initiative under wraps, but at least there’s a codename we can keep tabs on (at the moment): . The company is currently seeking up to $1 billion in collective investments to hopefully launch the platform at a yet unspecified date, and their first proposition is to set up a stablecoin which will serve as the preferred payment method for the platform. No other details on this new currency have been released.
Project Libra’s announcement has been met with both praise and skepticism, producing swift reactions throughout the cryptosphere. It’s hard to talk at length (and even harder to judge) the future of a project that barely has a present right now; however, this is Facebook, and every time they speak, we ought to listen. After years of weird political scandals and unsuccessful crisis management schemes, even its co-founder, Chris Hughes, thinks it is time to move on and build something else. The company’s not looking very good right now, and it hasn’t for some time, so why should we be excited about Project Libra?
What we know so far about Libra (and why it might struggle to catch on in the future)
We might have understated what Hughes said about Facebook: He claims that Zuckerberg himself has become too powerful, and that this is “unprecedented and un-American,” a point that doesn’t need a lot going for it to be believable. Hughes’ statements were released barely a week after the first mentions of Project Libra hit the internet, all of this amidst various calls for a new judicial investigation of the tech giant, this time via the Justice Department’s antitrust division.
The fallout from these recent events does not paint a good picture for the future of the company, though one could argue that Zuckerberg and Co. have already resisted much heavier political and media storms. This might be one of the reasons why Facebook is only disclosing droplets of information regarding Project Libra, and keeping a low profile in regards to their stand on the market. Below are some more facts about the initiative that we’ve extracted from various media outlets, so you readers can start forming your own opinions on the matter.
- Facebook has stated that the purpose of Project Libra is to offer a viable marketplace alternative based on lower fees than those offered by regular credit card payment processing systems.
- We don’t yet know what their stablecoin is going to be pegged against, or how it is going to be supported. However, Facebook’s proposed $1 billion sum will serve to “support the value of the coin and protect it against volatility” (from the original WSJ article).
- The company is also looking to tie their stablecoin to their ads network to create a sort of rewards system where users get compensated for watching ads and purchasing goods. The functionality might be similar to that of the Brave browser’s loyalty points system.
Facebook, trust issues, and the future of the social media crypto-economy
We are not going to conveniently omit the fact that getting a marketplace of this kind would be greatly beneficial for a lot of people, but Facebook needs to get that investment first and foremost, and there’s no guarantee that investors will jump in anytime soon. There’s also the fact that we barely have any details about the actual exchange system: how will they turn that stablecoin into an accessible financial tool for their ? Will they keep everything limited to the marketplace? Will they provide options to turn Facebook money into fiat currency or ? We don’t know, and we might not know for sure in the coming months.
What we do know is that, when the time comes, users will have to make a choice between Facebook and other ways of spending and exchanging their beloved crypto coins, whichever they might be. Judging by the company’s current status, however, it doesn’t seem like Project Libra is going to get a lot of traction upon release. To paraphrase beloved MCU icon Nick Fury: we love Facebook, but we don’t trust them very much.
The tech giant’s financial and social (pun totally intended) presence is not bound to diminish in the foreseeable future, at least from our point of view, but more scandals are also likely to surface, as Zuckerberg does not seem to want to ensure any meaningful changes within the service (even if he is constantly stating otherwise, as he should).
So, with all of this in mind, what can a crypto-enthusiast expect from Project Libra? The truth is that the information we currently have is pointing to a very limited marketplace, designed to keep you logged into Facebook for (maybe) a couple of minutes longer than you normally would. The real future of lies on initiatives that seek to provide their users with freedom of choice, financial stability, and independence.
Project Libra’s possible role in the Indian crypto market
Project Libra is (apparently) going to pay you for watching ads, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but what are you going to do with those coins? Here in India, we’re sure that people will find a lot of interesting ways to conduct business with it. , but since this is a Facebook-owned initiative, that scenario is unlikely (to say the least).
We have to remember that WhatsApp Pay is currently on trial here, and since more than 80% of merchants are using that service to promote their wares, Project Libra would probably be very popular in this country. Its , however, would not work to enhance financial freedom for all Indians, as again, this platform will most likely be conducted entirely within Facebook alone.
In our modest opinion, Indians are better off , especially because Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world, and therefore one of the most hackable. You add this particular detail to the ongoing scandals that Zuckerberg’s been facing since the beginning of the decade, and Project Libra doesn’t really look as good anymore. , a terrible idea that was recently perpetuated by an Indian government official, effectively dialing back a lot of the progress that activists like Nischal Shetty have been making.
Project Libra sounds like a (somewhat) good initiative, but we have bigger fish to catch at the moment. Besides, which one would you, as an Indian, prefer? A decentralized (yet soundly regulated) market where you can exchange your cryptos freely or a loyalty marketplace eternally tied to the whims of our (seemingly reptilian) overlord Mark Zuckerberg? Your choice.
Published at Tue, 14 May 2019 23:09:47 +0000
