[Cryptography] FT explains Facebook's Libra

[John Levine]

The Financial Times Alphaville column has a snarky but very well
informed take on Facebook's new electronic-money-like-thing Libra.

They say, and I agree, that it's actually an ETF (exchange traded
fund) with a light sprinkling of blockchain pixie dust to make it seem
cool.  Their long list of partners includes zero banks which is
significant, since without banks to hold the money that's supposed to
give it a stable value, it can't exist.

Libra also say bizarre things like it's a permissioned blockchain now
but they plan to make it permissionless in the future.

Lots more here:

https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2019/06/18/1560848464000/Alphaville-s-Libra-cheat-sheet/

If anyone can make sense of the Libra white paper and explain in any
more detail what it is, I'd be interested in hearing about it.