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Have been difficult days for Libra, the cryptocurrency with which Facebook seeks to turn the international monetary and economic system around. In recent weeks we have seen important allies withdraw their support for the project, this in the face of increasing scrutiny by governments and regulators, who see this project as a threat to the current international financial system.
Today the departure of the seventh company to leave the Libra Association: Bookings Holdings, owner of Kayak, which joins PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, eBay, Stripe and Mercado Pago, companies that initially supported the project and that in the end have decided to distance themselves from it.
And also today the inaugural meeting of the Council of the Libra Association, held in Geneva, Switzerland, where it was expected that they will speak before the seven exits or announce strategies or plans that could help the organization to allay the fears of regulators. But it was not, it was a low-key meeting that focused on setting bylaws and electing the members of the board that will lead Libra’s efforts.
They seek to be at least 100 members in 2020
Rather than express an opinion about the exit of the seven companies, the Libra Association assured that Libra is more alive than ever. In fact, they claim that today have received the interest of 1,500 organizations to join the project. Of these, they affirm, there are 180 who meet the eligibility requirements for membership, and who could replace the seven who have left the Association.
However, they did not give a single name of those 1,500 organizations, or of the 180 that have supposedly passed the filters to be part of the founding members of the Libra Association.
For those who still do not have it clear, this is how it is today the Libra Association with its members:
- Payments: PayU (Naspers fintech arm and the only digital payments arm).
- Technology: Facebook / Calibra, Farfetch, Lyft, Spotify, Uber.
- Telecommunications: Iliad, Vodafone.
- Blockchain: Anchorage, Bison Trails, Coinbase, Xapo.
- Venture Capital: Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Initiatives, Ribbit Capital, Thrive Capital, Union Square Ventures.
- Non-profit organizations and academic institutions: Creative Destruction Lab, Kiva, Mercy Corps, Women’s World Banking.
- Those who are no longer members: Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, Stripe, Booking Holdings, eBay, Mercado Pago.
One of the objectives expressed by the Association is have at least 100 members before its scheduled launch in 2020, which is becoming less likely due to regulations. But during this inaugural meeting nothing was mentioned about a new date or changes to the scheduled launch.
This is the Libra Association Board of Directors
During this first official meeting of the Libra Association The members who will form part of the board of directors of the organization were elected. Here, the CEO of Xapo, Wences Casares, the partner of Andreessen Horowitz and specialist in Blockchain Katie Haun, as well as the executive of Facebook David Marcus, whom we already knew as the face of the project, were chosen. The board is complemented by Matthew Davie of Kiva and Patrick Ellis of PayU.
Also named Bertrand Perez, former senior director of payments engineering at PayPal, as COO and Acting Managing Director of the Libra Association. Perez will also be the chair of this new five-member board. For some months, Perez had been performing the work of director, although not officially, and during a statement to Revyuh he said:
“If, for example, the European Central Bank continues to deny us the right to operate in Europe, we will not do it, we have no intention of playing pirates, we respect the law.”
On the other hand, the current members of the Libra Association signed a letter where they agree that members can withdraw for any reason and, with some restrictions, transferring your membership plus 10 million tokens in Libra Investment shares to another eligible organization.
As I was saying, during this meeting there was no mention of current regulations or demands by governments for the operation of Libra. No plans or strategies were mentioned. A Libra spokesperson mentioned:
“Since the Libra project was announced on June 18, 2019, it has generated excitement around the world. The Libra Association has seen more than 1,500 entities have expressed interest in joining the Libra project effort, and approximately 180 entities have met the preliminary membership criteria shared on Libra.org. “
Among these criteria that are mentioned in the statements are: having businesses that meet two of the three thresholds of a market value of $ 1 billion or $ 500 million in customer balances; have at least 20 million users per year; or be recognized as one of the 100 industry leaders. The foregoing in the case of commercial companies, since other criteria are indicated for non-profit organizations and educational entities.
So far there are still no details of how they will show that Libra is protected against fraud, money laundering, its use in possible terrorist activities and possible damage to sovereign currencies. They also did not explain how they seek to gain trust as a product powered by Facebook.. To this day, lawmakers feel that Mark Zuckerberg’s company has too much power to also have control over a world currency.
Cover photo | Alpari Org
