Libra Association launched

On 15th October 2019, the 21 initial members of the Libra Association formally signed the Libra Association charter in Geneva, Switzerland. In addition, they formalized the Libra Association council, elected the Board of Directors, and appointed members of the Libra Association executive team.

Libra is a planned digital currency, which was proposed by US social media company Facebook on 18 June 2019. The mission of Libra is to provide a simple global currency and financial infrastructure for billions of users, including those without access to the financial system. According to a World Bank report, 1.7 billion people, 31{b28ae05319d94bff0b4d65c5a9f4524dd588360f05c61ef440e1608e0a1c4144} of the global adult population, do not have access to an account at a financial institution or to mobile money. The Libra founders claim to address this problem.

The Libra will be based on blockchain technology, the Libra Blockchain. However, unlike Bitcoin, for example, Libra will not rely on cryptocurrency mining. Only members of the Libra Association will be able to process transactions via the permissioned blockchain. The evolution of the Libra Blockchain will be overseen by the Libra Association, an independent not-for-profit headquartered in Geneva. The association will be responsible for facilitating the operation of the Libra Blockchain and managing the reserve that backs the currency. The Libra Association will consist of geographically distributed and diverse businesses, nonprofit and multilateral organizations, and academic institutions.

Before the first Libra meeting, seven companies which had participated in the Libra discussions had left: Booking Holdings, eBay, Mastercard, Mercado Pago, PayPal, Stripe, and Visa Inc. Since its inception, the project has faced strong criticism. Regulators and politicians criticised that Libra could undermine national sovereignty and the functioning of the global financial system. Privacy advocates have pointed out data protection risks, which could result from Facebook’s involvement via its subsidiary Calibra.

Further information: Libra website – https://libra.org