Editors Note: This article comes fromOrange Book (ID: chengpishu)Editors Note: This article comes from
Orange Book (ID: chengpishu)
Orange Book (ID: chengpishu)
, by ELISE THOMAS, published with permission.
Recently, many founding members of the Libra Association have begun to turn against the water.
The research article The Ties That Bind Facebooks Libra from Wired magazine on the members of the Libra Association shows that most of the members who are still in the Libra Association have varying degrees of interest in Facebook.
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The article puts forward an interesting metaphor: Libra seems to be using a decentralized organizational structure, but in fact it is an elite club, where everyone is bound together to fight for common rights and interests.
Although there is some conspiracy theory, after seeing these intricate membership relationships, you may have a clearer understanding of Libra.
Split the line into the full text, enjoy～
In June of this year, Facebook launched its own blockchain project Libra, which is mainly used in payment scenarios. Facebook stated that it is not the controller of Libra. It will be the Libra Association, an organization registered in Switzerland, consisting of more than 100 members, and each member has voting rights.
David Marcus, head of the Libra project, said in a public interview that no individual or organization can or should 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 critical, which is why we vigorously develop the Libra Association.
In this association, Facebook has the same rights as other members, with one vote, and will not control the organization.
Obviously, the outside world doesnt see it that way.
Of the 27 founding members of the Libra Association, 15 have indirect or direct ties to Facebook.
They are former Facebook executives, board members or investors, or various institutions and organizations that have direct or indirect interests in Facebook.
The relationship between members of the Libra Association and Facebook (the effect of zooming in and eating is the best)
For example, a16z is an early investor in Facebook, and its founder Marc Andreessen is currently a member of Facebooks board of directors. They are one of the representatives of the investment institutions of the Libra Association.
a16zs portfolio Coinbase is also a founding member of the Libra Association.
Peter Thiel is also similar, with the dual status of Facebook investor + board member.
Another founder of Breakthrough Initiatives, Yuri Milner, also has a well-known fund DST, which has invested in four technology companies that are on the Libra founding member list: Pay U, Farfetech, stripe and Spotify.
When asked by the media about Breakthroughs views on Libra, Milner said he had no comment. The only message released is that Breakthrough will support various projects that are beneficial to future technology and charity.
In addition, the spokesperson of a16z expressed silence on these interest-related issues, and the Peter Thiel Foundation is also putting aside its relationship with Libra.
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so-called decentralized governance
Obviously, the strong binding of interests among Libras current members has aroused many peoples doubts. Facebooks statement that it cannot control Libra seems like a joke.
Remember the British aristocratic clubs that were popular a hundred years ago?
Libra is very similar. It is not an equal association, but a club run by a group of people who are interested in rights and profits and have various stakeholders.
A researcher in the field of society and network at Harvard University said that Libra seems to have established a decentralized organization, but the actual situation is that each member separates his responsibility from Libra, and everyone earns money together , I have nothing to do with the accident.
In the future, the possibility of their collusion is extremely high, and these members will work together to earn more profits.
The core idea behind cryptocurrencies is to eliminate the need for trust in centralized institutions such as banks. For example, Bitcoin and Ethereum both operate through a distributed network, and everyone can become its operating node.
Libra is an access system, and only association members can verify transactions on the chain, so many people think that Libra is not a real cryptocurrency. Although Facebook hopes that Libra will be non-access system in the future, many people do not believe them.
At present, most members of the association have a high degree of interest consistency, and they are all profit-making companies with related interests. This can lead to a high concentration of power, which runs counter to the core idea of the blockchain.
For organizations that want to join the association, the first threshold is 10 million US dollars. The money will enter the Libra Foundation for the daily operations of the association and earn interest. Members can express their opinions on Libra’s governance and code changes s right.
Obviously, the current progress is not optimistic. Only 27 members have signed the letter of intent. As for the membership fee of 10 million US dollars that needs to be paid.
The CEO of Visa stated that the organizations currently listed as founding members have not formally signed contracts, and the $10 million is just a number written in the white paper.
To make matters worse, some of the founding members who wrote in the white paper began to betray, such as Paypal, Visa, and Mastercard.
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regulatory pressure
At present, Libra has been resisted by regulatory authorities such as Trump and Federal Reserve Chairman Powell. The reasons for the resistance include various issues such as anti-money laundering, consumer protection, user privacy, and monopolistic competition.
In addition to the United States, the French Minister of Finance also hinted that Libra will most likely be banned by Europe, which needs financial stability and dominance over monetary policy.
In mid-September, Marcus, the head of the Libra project, met with representatives of 26 central banks at a conference in Switzerland. He hoped to dispel everyones concerns about Libras adverse impact on national sovereignty and monetary policy.
And Marcuss answer is: We will try to avoid it as much as possible, but there are still many important things that need to be resolved before we officially go live.
In Libras structure, it is true that everyone has equal voting rights.
But equal voting rights and equal speaking rights are two different things. What I really care about is who will make suggestions and questions at the end of Libra, and who will customize the route for members to vote.
