Ohio Congressman Warren Davidson has stated that Facebook would be better off abandoning its Libra project in lieu of Bitcoin adoption. Davidson has cited centralization and the fear of monopoly as reasons for preferring Bitcoin, the more democratic technology, over Libra, a private and commercial enterprise.
The Ohio Congressman was never a fan of the Libra project, even going so far as to call it a ‘shitcoin’. He is one of few congressmen who appears to be taking an active interest in Bitcoin and other forms of digital finance, even advocating for the technology in 2013 when it was far less pervasive.
It was the rise of the Bitcoin price to $19,856 in December 2017 that propelled cryptocurrencies into the limelight. Currently, the Bitcoin price is hovering at the $8,600 mark.
According to Davidson, the centralized features of Libra mean that it should be classified as a security and face stringent regulation. Indeed, it would entail a consortium of huge companies coming together to manage the Libra product, a coming together that would represent mass centralization.
He also highlighted a number of ways that the price could be manipulated, such as adding a weaker currency to Libra’s currency holdings. There is no reason for Facebook to create Libra – it would be much easier to integrate BTC and take a tiny micro-fee for transactions. That’s much safer, from a democratic perspective.
Facebook already has a terrible track record in terms of content monitoring, with Cambridge Analytica among the biggest data scandals of the modern era. The capability of monitoring all user data in combination with the ability to manipulate financial transactions is too much of a risk for the Ohio Congressman.
And he is not alone in his criticism, as many are fearful of the implications of Facebook launching Libra. John McAfee previously referred to Libra as a “grotesque distortion of cryptocurrency”.
Libra would constitute a form of monopoly and centralization that Bitcoin was designed to replace. Bitcoin, in contrast, is purely decentralized. The underlying technology of BTC cannot be corrupted, only the Bitcoin price on paper can.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has stated that Libra will be the answer to the failing financial system. He has also stated that the Chinese cryptocurrency is close to launching and that the US has no choice but to allow Libra to compete with it. Either way, the future of world finance is digital.
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