Facebook-Led Libra forms steering council after large name departures
GENEVA – 21 organizations have signed the charra Association charter, days after a series of high-profile nonconformities from the cryptocurrency project started by Facebook.
The Libra Association also elected its board and formalized the consortium's management team, which followed a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.
Facebook is still a key player in the project with Calibra CEO and former Facebook blockchain leader David Marcus taking up the five-man board. Other board members include Katie Haun, a general partner with Andreessen Horowitz; Wences Cesares, CEO of Xapo; Patrick Ellis, general manager at PayU; and Matthew Davie, Head of Strategy for Kiva.
Bertrand Perez, Dante Disparte and Kurt Hemecker will take leadership roles in the association's executive team. Hemecker, Perez and Marcus are all PayPal alum.
In addition to Calibra, the association consists of Coinbase, Xapo, Anchorage, Bison Trails, Creative Destruction Lab, Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, Ribbit Capital, Union Square Ventures, Breakthrough Initiatives, Illiad, Vodafone, Farfetch, Uber, Lyft, Kiva, Mercy Corps, Women's World Banking, Spotify and PayU, according to a press release. No previously unknown members were listed.
The announcement comes after a number of major departures. When the Libra Association debuted in June, Facebook appointed a watchlist of 28 major companies. However, Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Booking Holdings, eBay, Stripe and Mercado Pago announced their withdrawal from Libra last week, with some citing concerns about the regulatory setback the project is facing.
Monday that more than 1[ads1],500 units have expressed interest in joining the project, with 180 meeting the organization's membership criteria. A two-thirds vote from the 21 board members is needed to actually add new members.
In June, Facebook said that a consortium of 100 companies would support the cryptocurrency project at launch. No update was shared Monday regarding the plans or the current launch date for the target.
Hardly Beginning
This summer, Facebook announced a bold vision for a cryptocurrency that could be used by unbanked individuals worldwide.
As first anticipated, Token's governance will be overseen by the Libra Association, a consortium of 100 companies that will vote on cryptocurrency technical decisions using Libra Investment Token, which will serve as a security that allows holders to serve any interest accrued from the curve.
The bar loan was designed to be backed by a basket of fiat currencies, which were later announced to include US dollars (50 per cent), euros (18 per cent), yen (14 per cent), the British pound (11 per cent) and Singapore dollar (7 percent).
Financial regulators and policy makers around the world immediately announced their opposition to the project, citing fears that Libra could destabilize the global monetary order. The ministers in France and Germany said they were against Libra, India announced that Libra may not even be legal in the country, and the US Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) Asked for a moratorium on the project until all regulatory issues could be cleared.
However, Calibras Marcus has maintained that this fear is misplaced. He testified before the US Congress in July and tried to calm the concerns of both the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee. (Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg goes to Capitol Hill next week for the same purpose.)
More recently, Marcus wrote in a letter that Libra would welcome regulatory oversight and that the project was not looking to replace the dollar. [19659002] This has not stopped a number of questions about Facebook's intentions or the potential consequences of the Weights. Before announcing departures from the Libra Association, CEOs of Visa, Mastercard and Stripe were contacted by U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who wrote that the companies could come under increased regulation. they should continue their participation in the project.
Technical Development
It is unclear when the weight will actually start.
While Facebook originally targeted an early 2020 launch date, recent Zuckerberg statements have called into question this timeline. However, it appears that any delay in launch will be a result of its regulatory problems, rather than technical concerns.
During a quarterly revenue call in July, Zuckerberg said the company would take "how long it would take to convince regulators not to disturb Vågen. In September, he referred to the possibility that the project could take years to start.
From a technical perspective, Facebook has been secretive about what has been built so far, and since June, the team has not publicly expressed what progress or disadvantages it has seen, despite buying some of Libra's codebase.
remains unclear whether team building Libra consists only of Calibra employees, or whether individuals from other members of the association have joined the effort.
What is known is that Facebook created a team in Geneva, Switzerland, and previously listed the blockchain -related positions in Menlo Park, California and Tel Aviv, Israel.
Mark Zuckerberg image via Aaron-Schwartz / Shutterstock
