Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency is generating an immense amount of hype. Some hail it as the beginning of the end of sovereign fiat currencies. Others believe it will draw people into the cryptocurrency world, leading them inexorably to place their faith in the One True Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. And others worry about the effect on central bank monetary policy and the possibility that a run on Libra could trigger another financial crisis.
I think this is all massively overblown. But there is one aspect that should worry everyone – and almost nobody is talking about.
Firstly, let’s look at the claim that Libra could replace sovereign currencies. This is fundamentally nonsense. Sovereign currencies are the vehicle in which governments accept taxes. Unless foolhardy governments accept Libra as an alternative to their own currencies (believe me, this is not a good idea), people will always need sovereign currency. And no, governments are not about to disappear and taxes come to an end. Dream on, crypto-libertarians.
The underlying issue here is the unspoken assumption that Facebook is too big to regulate, too big to bail, and too big to fail. Why does everyone think governments will allow Facebook to rule the world?
And this brings me to my real concern about the Libra project. Facebook’s business model since its inception has been to harvest and monetize data. I see no reason to assume that this has changed. So when I find, buried in Libra’s whitepaper, two sentences that imply Facebook’s real aim in creating Libra is to set the standard for global digital identities, my hair stands on end. As Dave Birch, director of Consult Hyperion and an expert on digital identity, puts it:
There are no throwaway remarks in a Facebook white paper that has taken a year to put together. It’s in there for a reason.
[Facebook] are actually going to try and fix the identity problem.
Dave seems fairly sanguine about Facebook’s intention. But I am not. We now know just how damaging Facebook’s data harvesting can be. If Facebook became the standard setter for digital identities, it could gain access to all personal data. And that is what it wants. Not control of finance, control of data. And if you think your personal data would be digitally secure from harvesting simply because Facebook said so, you are the biggest sucker in the world.
From a financial perspective, Libra seems fairly harmless. Even if all 2bn of Facebook’s users adopted Libra for some transactions, and all 90m of its small businesses used Libra for purchases and sales, it is not going to pose a major threat to the financial system, let alone replace sovereign currencies.
But Libra is in reality a vehicle for bringing about Facebook’s wider aim of becoming the standard setter for digital identity. And that is a much, much bigger issue. Facebook is the last organization on earth that should have anything to do with digital identity or standards setting. For that reason, Libra must be stopped.
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