What Exactly Is Facebooks Libra Cryptocurrency? What Are Its Challenges? – CryptoGlobe

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What Exactly Is Facebooks Libra Cryptocurrency? What Are Its Challenges?

The new decade is set to launch with one of the most ambitious cryptocurrencies yet, with the social media giant Facebooks Libra expected to start trading in a few months. The new coin certainly has the muscle behind it: in fact, it has an entire Libra Association that consists of companies such as Spotify, Farfetch, Uber, Lyft, PayU (Naspers fintech arm), and Calibra. Along with a plethora of other venture capital firms spanning the blockchain and telecommunication networks, and some non-profit organisations.

The vision of Libra is put in no uncertain terms on its official website. That is to create: a stable global cryptocurrency built on a secure network enabling a more inclusive global financial system.

What Facebook and the other giants hope to achieve is to connect everyone in possession of a mobile phone to the global financial infrastructure. These are what Facebook considers the unbanked, those who do not have access to a bank, but who do have a mobile phone.

Libra would give these unbanked masses the ability to transfer money across the world instantly, on a secure network and at a low cost. If implemented, Libra would be an example of leapfrogging technology, in which developing societies bypass what traditionally would have been a necessary technological evolution (i.e. the establishment of more banks) in order to get to an end point.

Current proposals put Libra on a blockchain that encompasses around 100 computer servers, at least thats the ambition. The blockchain algorithms will be programmed to work as whats known as a command-line programme, something that will make scripting and interactive usage possible; with an interface of consistent options and file formats. For further security, Libra is also thought to be using Byzantine fault-tolerant consensus approach. This means that, in theory, the wider blockchain cannot be compromised even if one of the servers is disrupted.

But not everyone has faith in the new cryptocurrency, even with all the financial backing it has. Again, in theory, it should be almost impossible for a cyberattack to disrupt Libras blockchain, as a third of its 100 servers would have to be disrupted before such an attack could even be launched.

The Libra Association has also stressed that each of its members will have their own server, and that it will be supported independently by them and secured. Furthermore, the blockchain will have its own consensus-based algorithm. Meaning that transactions must be approved by two-thirds of all the servers before going ahead. This should make transactions more measurable and efficiently processed. Facebook has even said that Libra would be capable of processing a thousand payments per second, which would make it about 500 times more efficient than Bitcoin is today.

Despite the proposed ambitiousness of Libra, the United States and European Union regulatory bodies are yet to be won over. They already do not like the strength of pre-existing cryptocurrencies. Some countries have even outright banned them.

To get round this problem, the Libra Association has marketed its currency as one that has been specially designed to be friendly to regulators from the get-go. They insist, for example, that Libra is a stablecoin. If true, then this should alleviate some national fears for its potential implications on monetary policies. Still, there are concerns that if the Libra is very popular, it could become Too Big To Fail, which of course is a phrase still haunted by the 2007-08 economic crises.

The reason for these TBTF anxieties lies in the fact that Libra is intended to be collateralised by other currencies and some debt obligations. If there was ever a run on Libra, it would lack a centralised bank to mitigate the damage.

Libras special status means it will be a global currency and not specific to any one nation. So it is only natural that some national governments have expressed concerns about how it will impact on their unilateral monetary policies. Libras global status assures that it will fluctuate differently to any one other currency, meaning it will be shaped by its underlying assets, and may even resemble something like an index in volatility.

One way to address these fears may be found in a report conducted by the Association of German Banks. The AGB has suggested restricting Libra for payment transfers only, and not giving it the ability to provide loans. this would prevent the cryptocurrency from becoming a money creation system in its own right.

Cryptocurrencies have enjoyed successful investment status and investment is predicted to keep increasing until 2020 at a minimum. Blockchain investments in the Libra cryptocurrency should be considered as a hedge in a diverse portfolio to protect against falls in other types of investments. Of course, at the moment Libra is not an asset that can be invested in yet. But once it comes online, theres no reason it wont enjoy the success of others (not including the decline of Bitcoin, which may be in response to more competition from other cryptocurrencies).

Once online, Libra should be safe to invest on optimised cryptocurrency trading platforms that can handle automated and manual trading.

iven other fears including loss of tax revenues and transaction fees, traditional banks have already acknowledged that change is coming. In its Future of Finance report, the Bank of England has already said that hard infrastructure needs to make room for, and can work with, soft infrastructure (cryptocurrencies). But what needs to be in place is a well-respected judicial and legal system, along with clear regulations, standards and rules.

As for the Libra cryptocurrency, no one can doubt the ambition of such a project. But whether it is something that the market actually needs is still a question that no one as of yet has an answer for.

Featured image by Tim Bennett on Unsplash.

This article was written by Neil Wright of Oakmount Partners Ltd, an investment consultancy firm based in Essex, UK.

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What Exactly Is Facebooks Libra Cryptocurrency? What Are Its Challenges? - CryptoGlobe