Facebook as a founding member of Libra Association released the Libra Coin white paper. The not-for-profit association consists of large organizations, from the payments industry to the technology industry, and marketplaces, from Telecom to Academics, NGOs and Venture Capital firms — 27 co-founding corporations like MasterCard, PayPal, VISA, Stripe, Spotify, eBay, Uber, Lyft, Vodafone, CoinBase, Xapo, Thrive Capital, USV and Women World Banking, just to name a few, join hands together for financial inclusion of billions of people, mission to launch and control Libra Coin over so-called Libra Blockchain.

According to the official website of Libra Association, The mission is:

“A simple global currency and financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people.”

So, What Is Libra?

As per official details: “Libra is built on a secure, scalable, and reliable Blockchain. Libra is backed by a reserve of assets that help keep its value stable. Libra is governed by the independent Libra Association, tasked with evolving the ecosystem.”

Can We Call Libra Coin a Cryptocurrency?

Let us find out the answers to basic questions about Libra Coin.

Is it open? No

Is it public? No

Is it borderless? No

Is it decentralized? No

Is it censorship-resistant? No

The five questions answered by Andreas via his tweet!

Interestingly, Libra Coin now looks more like a fiat currency not a cryptocurrency.

Why Libra Coin Is Not Cryptocurrency?

As per the information is given on Libra White paper, assets run on open source Blockchain called Libra Blockchain and are used via relation to a reserve asset.

“Libra is fully backed by a reserve of real assets. A basket of bank deposits and short-term government securities will be held in the Libra Reserve for every Libra that is created, building trust in its intrinsic value. The Libra Reserve will be administered with the objective of preserving the value of Libra over time.”

Libra Coin is a stable coin backed by a basket of currencies and securities. If we see, Libra White Paper clearly stated that Libra is a centralized currency but posing it as a cryptocurrency, in the world of cryptocurrencies and market of dominating Bitcoin, decentralization is the cornerstone of Blockchain technology, which is totally absent in Libra Coin. The type of Blockchain is permissioned, only association members are able to join the network, to add nodes, validate transaction, mint and destroy Libra Coin. This is very unacceptable in the cryptocurrency industry that a few people or organizations control the financial future of billions of people. This is not the vision of Satoshi Nakamoto.

If you study Libra White Paper, you will find that Libra adopted too much concepts and technicality from Bitcoin, Ethereum and other Open Blockchains. However, the current governance model’s implementation and minting scheme giving the perception of Banks and not Bitcoin. Libra Blockchain is centralized, backed by a basket of currencies, a consensus mechanism is very limited to Libra association only. Users can claim refunds, it means Libra Blockchain is not supporting hashing algorithms, which generally cryptocurrencies are depending on, like Bitcoin Blockchain based on SHA256, transactions are totally irreversible. Therefore, Libra Coin is not a Bitcoin killer.

Check Some Facts:

No single entity controls Bitcoin but Libra Coin is controlled by Libra Association — centralization.

Libra Coin is just a digital asset backed by fiat currencies, like USD, EUR, GBP, etc, is it a cryptocurrency? — question of value.

Bitcoin is limited only 21 Million, Libra is unlimited, the future supply and control of minting lies within Libra Association — inflation.

Libra Coin will initially run on a permissioned Blockchain, miners much seek approval before launching a node. Currently, it is mandatory to have a 1 billion dollar market cap of an organization to join the association. Bitcoin is permission-less, public Blockchain, anyone can join the network and start mining — different types of Blockchain, expensive membership.

Whenever a Libra Association mints Libra Coin, they have to store equivalent assets in fiat currencies and securities in a bank account, similarly when someone liquidate Libra Coin, Libra Association supposed to pass order of selling into Libra ledger, it requires strict monitoring and auditing, at Libra Association, only authorized resellers of Libra Association are able to create selling orders. This is not a function and a vision of cryptocurrency like Bitcoins, Ethers, etc. Small institutions and micro-finance bodies will have no choice but to work under the control of authorized resellers. Founding members will someday act as a Visa or Central Bank of today.

Andreas M. Antonopoulos on Twitter

Libra doesn't compete with central banks, they're using a basket of currencies" Think about what happens in, say India, when they decide to apply monetary policy (devalue) and people have access to a "hard" Libra alternative. It undermines their power of monetary policy

Users buy and spend Libra coin using pseudonym but again Libra theoretical adopted anonymity factor of Bitcoin but implementation is totally against Bitcoin. When you look at the founding members, the concept of authorized resellers, the regulated Calibra (upcoming wallet of Libra Coin by Facebook), apps like Whatsapp and Messenger, nothing will be anonymous, everything related to KYC of users already available to association and its founding members.

CZ Binance on Twitter

Facebook Libra coin don't need KYC. They have so much more data on the 2 billion people. Not just name, id, address, phone number. They know your family, friends, real-time/historic location, what you like... They know you more than yourself. And now your wallet too. Best AML!

CZ Binance on Twitter

Facebook should accept $BTC (and $BNB of course) alone side $Libra in the WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram apps. "Can't and must not work" won't be possible for bitcoin. It's already working. https://t.co/oe6M22whM9

Libra will face governance structure issues on the side of regulatory aspects from many countries and technical implementation, giving a ton of challenges in the dominating world of cryptocurrencies. What happens if Libra changes its minting rule overnight and not backed by fiat currencies or securities? Is it a concept of shadow bank? Is Libra a currency of corporations? Easy to become a Bitcoin killer?

Considering the current model of the Libra Association, there is a chance for Libra coin to become dominating and allow business-to-customer transactions but limited to only those countries have high inflation rates. It may see that Libra becomes a quasi-sovereign currency in Venezuela, Argentina, Turkey and or South Africa controlled by private companies that do not care about monetary policies. Keep in the notice, the given structure of Libra, gives us the knowledge that it’s a currency of corporations, however central banks, issue currencies, and setup monetary policies are members of International Monetary Funds, and they have very different goals compared to corporations.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told Europe 1 that Libra cannot “become a sovereign currency”. — https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-18/france-calls-for-central-bank-review-of-facebook-cryptocurrency

By understanding all the facts, it is justified to conclude that there will be no harm to Bitcoin and Libra is not Bitcoin killer. The game is set now, but Facebook and Libra Association not going to own the phenomenal market as the corporate world is not sleeping, there will be thousands of stable coins are coming, as if Starbucks and AT&T will also issue money with no time. Amazingly, the fact of the business is making money by mastering the art of doing business. So, Libra will target financial and payments market with already established userbase the question is at what cost? After Cambridge Analytica, we can expect the worst privacy, the phenomenal prodigy “banking the unbanking population of billions” is quoted many times by the Libra Association but the approach of Libra is not in favor of Central Banks, World Banks, The IMF, The EU, and other monetary policy-makers however they are also the winners and actual beneficial sooner or later.

Money is a product now.

Which money will be yours?

The dollar is the currency of the state. Libra is the currency of corporations.

And Bitcoin is the currency of people.

The author is Pakistani Blockchain Evangelist & Cryptocurrency Proponent. Founder of Go4 Blockchain, Tweeting from @mahsankhan92

Libra Coin — Currency of Corporations not People! was originally published in HackerNoon.com on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In today’s digital age, other venues facilitate black markets, which boast the sale of weapons. We all are aware of the United States is the largest exporter of legal weapons but another fact the US is also the most common source country for arms found on the dark web.

Sixty percent of all the weapons sold on the dark web are smuggled out of the US, according to research from the RAND Corporation along with the University of Manchester, began investigating the illegal trade in firearms, explosives and ammunition available on Silk Road-esque marketplaces. The pair believe that sellers are making a large profit by buying guns in the US and shipping them to Europe, where prices are higher.

Last year, a Global Financial Integrity study estimated the average price of AK-47 on the darknet is in the $2,800 to $3,600 range.

The global market of arms sale is about 60 billion dollars surveyed by Arms Control Association and others say the market value is up to 100 billion dollars. The US controls the arms market with 33% share. Russia with 10%. There are estimates that state, 10–20% of the arms traded ending up on the illegal arms black market. Today, this market includes a new avenue for illicit trade such as the Dark Web. Security Council already debated about halting illicit trade on the Dark Web.

Blockchain Can Help To Stop Trading Of Illegal Arms in Black Market

To fight against the illegal trading of arms is possible through Blockchain Technology by creating a global immutable database. The Blockchain would help to track any weapon from the time of their inception. The Blockchain prevents the hacking of that system as well. This being essential as it lessens the possibility of a single hack (please read in details about Blockchain Technology) used to proceeds illegal sale and procurement of weaponry from that multinational database. We know it is possible and practical because of the power of Blockchain technology, it very practical to stops illegal trading.

Let us understand it with some details:

Gun Tracking using Blockchain to avoid terrorism activities:

If gun possession-related information were logged and connected through blockchain, it could provide a connected infrastructure for tracking where weapons came from in the event of unlawful use. I penned down about this problem after hearing the twin terror attacks on the Muslim mosques in New Zealand.

By the implementation of Blockchain Technology, we would have a database to track the purchases of guns, transfers and manufacturers. The log would also be exact and hack-proof. And easy to use with purchasers, vendors and regulators. The regulators will take advantage of the information available on Blockchain explorer. Before each sale, purchasers required to pass a background check. Both the seller and gun dealer would have to approve a sale before it happened. Every gun would have an electronic gun safe; this would not be physical but digital. The digital gun safe on top of some Blockchain as like cryptocurrency wallet to support the transparency and gun control in an open environment with the help of participants. The information in the safe is only accessible through the owner’s retina scan or fingerprint, or some other way (debatable) of biometric data. The environment should be at the multinational scale.

The Blockchain is the tool to fight against illegal trade of arms in the Black market but Blockchain technology should not be an end-all, rather collaborate among many others. Now, it is a time that governments should start thinking how to fight against this trade using technology and how to mitigate the sale and procurement of illegal arms in the Black market especially Dark Web by using advanced technologies such as Blockchain and others for the safety of entire humanity.

The Author is a Pakistani Blockchain Evangelist and involved in international Blockchain based projects, He is the Founder of Go4 Blockchain. Follow him on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/mahsankhan92

OR Read more about Author: https://www.about.me/mahsankhan

The Blockchain has the Potential to Stop Illegal Arms Trading into Black Market was originally published in HackerNoon.com on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.