LIBRA: A QUICK TAKE ON FACEBOOK’S CRYPTO PLANS

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LIBRA : A QUICK TAKE ON FACEBOOK’S CRYPTO PLANS

  • Rishabh Duggal and Manbir Pabla
  • Published: 26 July 2019

Libra is a forthcoming digital, blockchain-based cryptocurrency that the Facebook-led consortium ‘Libra Association’ proposes to launch in 2020. Facebook outlined the vision for the currency through a whitepaper released in June 2019. The underlying framework behind the introduction of Libra is to build a distributed network that can scale to serve billions of people with a stable global digital currency.

The independent Libra Association headquartered in Geneva will govern the initiative. The association already has 28 founding members and plans to onboard approximately 100 geographically distributed and diverse organizations with each contributing at least $10 million to the network. Together, these founding members will articulate the vision of making the financial ecosystem more accessible, decentralized, and financially inclusive.

In this paper, we examine Libra’s key features, implications for financial institutions, potential risks and concerns, and more.