Elite club or decentralized organization? A picture reveals the relationship between members of the Libra Association

Compile: Wind Answer

Source: Orange Book

Editor's Note: The original title is "Zhuangjia Xiaozha"

Recently, many founding members of the Libra Association have started to fight against water.

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Some people say that it may be forced to supervise, but another possibility is that these exiting members are not on the same boat as Facebook.

The research article "The Ties That Bind Facebook's Libra" from the Wired magazine on Libra Association shows that members of the Libra Association are still in the process, and most of them have different levels of interest with Facebook.

The article presents an interesting metaphor: Libra seems to be using a decentralized organizational structure, but it is actually an elite club where everyone fights for common rights and interests.

Although there are some conspiracy theories, after seeing these intricate memberships, you may have a clearer understanding of Libra.

Below is the full text, enjoy~

In June of this year, Facebook launched its own blockchain project Libra, which is mainly used for payment scenarios.

Facebook said that it is not Libra's controller. The Libra association will be promoted by Libra, a registered organization in Switzerland, composed of more than 100 members, each with voting rights.

Libra project leader David Marcus said in a public interview that no one, personal or organizational, could or should not have absolute control over Libra.

We believe that multi-party cooperation can make Libra have a better future, so a democratic governance mechanism is very important, which is why we vigorously develop the Libra Association.

In this association, Facebook has the same rights as other members, and it is a vote and does not control the organization. Obviously, the outside world does not see it that way.

Of the 27 founding members of the Libra Association, 15 have indirect or direct relationship bindings with Facebook.

They are former Facebook executives, board members or investors, or a variety of institutions and organizations that have direct or indirect interests with Facebook.

Libra Association members and Facebook context map

For example, a16z is an early investor in Facebook, and its founder, Marc Andreessen, is currently a member of the Facebook board of directors and is one of the representatives of the Libra Association's investment institutions.

A16z's portfolio Coinbase is also a founding member of the Libra Association.

Peter Thiel, too, is a dual-name blessing for Facebook investors + board members.

One of the founders of Breakthrough Initiatives, an investment fund dedicated to cutting-edge technology and philanthropy, Zuckerberg, has no suspense in the position of a member of the founding association of the Libra Association.

Yuri Milner, another founder of Breakthrough Initiatives, also has a well-known fund, DST, which has invested in four technology companies on the Libra founding list: Pay U, Farfetech, stripe and Spotify.

When the media asked about Breakthrough's view of Libra, Milner said there was no comment. The only information released is that Breakthrough will support a variety of projects that benefit future technology and charity.

In addition, the spokesperson for the a16z expressed silence on these stakes issues, and the Peter Thiel Foundation is also breaking the relationship with Libra.

Decentralized governance

Obviously, the strong binding of Libra's current members has caused many people to question, and Facebook said that it is a joke to say that he can't control Libra's point of view.

Remember the British aristocratic club that was popular a hundred years ago?

Libra is very similar. It is not an equal association, but a group of clubs that are interested in rights and profits and who operate with a variety of stakeholders.

A Harvard University social and network researcher said that Libra seems to have established a decentralized organization, but the reality is that each member has stripped off his responsibility and Libra , and everyone has money to earn. There was no melon in the accident.

In the future, they are highly likely to collude, and these members will work together to earn more profits.

The core idea behind cryptocurrency is to eliminate the need for trust in banks and other centralization institutions. For example, both Bitcoin and Ethereum operate through a distributed network, and everyone can become their operational node.

Libra is an entry system. Only members of the association can verify the chain transaction. So many people think that Libra is not a real cryptocurrency. Although Facebook hopes that Libra will be non-accessive in the future, many people do not believe them.

At present, most members of the association have a high degree of interest and consistency, and are all profit-making companies with interests. This leads to a high concentration of rights, which runs counter to the core idea of ​​the blockchain.

For organizations that want to join the association, the first threshold is $10 million. The money will go into the Libra Foundation's day-to-day operations for the association and earn interest, and members will comment on Libra's governance and code changes. s right.

Facebook's goal is 100 members, these members will be distributed in different regions, in addition to the company will have non-profit organizations and various academic institutions.

Obviously, the current progress is not optimistic, only 27 members signed the letter of intent, as for the $10 million membership fee to be paid.

The Visa CEO said that the organization currently listed as a founding member has not officially signed a contract, and $10 million is just a number written on a white paper.

To make matters worse, some of the founding members who wrote on the white paper began to fight against water, such as Paypal, Visa, and Mastercard.

Regulatory pressure

At present, Libra has been boycotted by Trump and Federal Reserve Chairman Powell and other authorities. The reasons for the boycott include anti-money laundering, consumer protection, user privacy, and monopolistic competition.

In addition to the United States, the French Chancellor of the Exchequer also hinted that Libra will be banned by Europe and Europe needs financial stability and monetary policy.

In mid-September, Libra project leader Marcus met with representatives of 26 central banks at a meeting in Switzerland, hoping to dispel concerns about Libra's bad influence on national sovereignty and monetary policy.

He believes that behind Libra is a basket of sovereign currencies. From this perspective, Libra has not created a new currency. The monetary policy of each country is still dominated by itself. Libra is only a part of it.

At the same time, the regulators also noticed the complex interests of the members of the association. During the July regulatory meeting, a US lawmaker attacked Facebook.

Marcus's answer is: We will try to avoid it, but before we officially go online, there are still many important things to solve.

In Libra's architecture, everyone does have equal voting rights.

But equal voting rights and equal voices are two things. What I really care about is who Libra is the last to make suggestions and questions, and who will customize the route to vote for members. The question raised by the Honourable Member is very sharp.

Obviously, the Libra Association did not give a clear answer.

There is currently only one future planning charter for the Libra Association, but both Facebook and Libra spokespersons have refused to answer questions about interests and over-concentration of rights.

(Finish)

Reference link:

https://www.wired.com/story/ties-bind-facebooks-libra/?utm_source=InstitutionalCrypto&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=2019-10-15

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