Obviously early days, but my initial impression of Libra is that it's another MCX. Never heard of it? Exactly. Led by Walmart, it was a smartphone-based payment system launched with great fanfare back in 2012 with an impressive list of retailers. The problem?

The retailers all joined MCX just so that they had access to information. They had no desire to actually implement it. But they also couldn't afford to be the only retailer not privy to MCX's plans. MCX insisted that member retailers couldn't accept other smartphone payments.

Then Apple Pay came out. Retailers started dropping MCX to take Apple Pay, or they just ignored their MCX agreement. The consortium fell apart because they all had very different objectives, needs, and customer profiles.