Recently, Facebook shared the details for its own cryptocurrency Libra and collaborative wallet Calibra. All tech-based and traditional media sources are buzzing about this news and for good reason. So we wanted to dig deep into how our own crypto FinTech industry will be affected by this massive change while also sharing our own vision on the topic.
Libra will let you shop or send money with no fee. You will buy or sell Libra online or at local exchange points, and spend it using third-party wallets or Calibra wallet that will be implemented into WhatsApp, Messenger, and Facebook.
For those who missed it ☝
Zuckerberg vs. the government
Before any mention of Libra, the U.S. government brought Mark Zuckerberg into court to testify on Facebook’s privacy breaches. Well now, the government will have their hands full again with the Calibra/Libra announcement. The last thing they want for Zuckerberg to have his very own cryptocurrency.
Right after the Libra announcement, U.S. House Committee on Financial Services chairwoman Maxine Waters released a statement that told Facebook to halt development of Libra until Congress has the necessary manpower to review it. In the document, Waters stated that:
“given the company’s troubled past, I am requesting that Facebook agree to a moratorium on any movement forward on developing cryptocurrency.”
The main question here is how government pressure on Zuckerberg will affect the industry. Our main fear is that some countries (especially U.S.) will alter the crypto laws and stir up “cryptophobia” in traditional finance. An opposing opinion relates to the “Partners” section on the project’s website. With Visa, MasterCard, eBay, PayPal and other titans participating in the project, some say their influence can protect Libra from most negative cases with the government.
In the meantime, the Libra Association chose its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. YouHodler has partnerships in Switzerland and Europe and we hope Libra will bring a lot of value to E.U. which is our home market.
GRAM vs. Libra
Telegram’s TON vs. Facebook’s Libra will likely be the crypto matchup of next year but not from a crypto trading point of view. We are betting on strong competition in the development of new features.
Both blockchains are open source. A variety of tech teams already use Facebook React and React Native to build incredible apps as well as Telegram API to build thousands of great chatbots. Both companies are very good at providing perfectly built dev tools.
Open source means that blockchain projects will bring value to both networks and customers will come right after. One may remember the ICO pump of ‘17-’18 which started from developing new blockchain project ideas on the Ethereum network. We at YouHodler already started implementing TON and are thrilled to start with Libra ASAP.
Make blockchain great again
Libra’s participation in mass crypto adoption will bring 1 billion Facebook customers to the crypto market. Ultimately, this will create a healthier market. Now, we see mostly crypto users who trade and are only interested in price growth. The amount of people using crypto as a payment instrument is insignificant. We are all eager to see Facebook users embrace crypto because they *hopefully* will USE crypto instead of just HODLing.
YouHodler’s position
Probably, Facebook with its centralized view of user’s data and privacy is not the right company we all want to see in the blockchain industry. Many crypto users and analysts are not happy about this new project. For example, Twitter user Alex Mashinsky expressed the following:
“The Facebook , the people who brought you fake friends and fake news now bring you a fake #Blockchain…Thank you Facebook from everyone in the real crypto community. NOTTT…Libra is still worth 328.9 shit grams.”
Or, according to Andreas M. Antonopoulos:
“While Facebook’s Libra doesn’t compete against any open, public, permissionless, borderless, neutral, censorship-resistant blockchains, it *will* compete against both retail banks and central banks. This is going to be fun to watch.”
We at YouHodler almost agree with this skepticism. On the other hand, Libra will bring a billion new customers to the crypto market. We, as professional DLT market participants have a chance to convert them to “real” blockchain users who will share with us a philosophy of decentralization. In this case, Libra is still worthy of existence and offers a chance for a bright crypto future.
What do you think about Libra and how it affects the crypto market? Share your thoughts on our Twitter or Telegram chat.
