In an interview with Cryptonites, prominent Bitcoin advocate Andreas Antonopolous claimed that Facebook’s Libra will not be able to withstand the ongoing global trade and currency war. More recently, reports alleged that Facebook hired third-party contractors to transcribe user audio chats, which eventually raised questions over Libra’s privacy and security claims.

Libra Can Never Be a Global Coin Says Andreas Antonopolous

In the interview, Antonopoulos said that Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra cannot behave as a global coin because its services are limited to a few countries. He said that Libra is bound to US jurisdiction where Facebook is headquartered, forcing the social media giant to directly identify and vet its users if it wants to extend financial services to them.

Antonopoulos added that Facebook also compromises on borderless transactions as they have to comply with sanctions, embargoes and currency regulations. According to him, Libra will end up servicing a few countries similar to popular payment service PayPal. He argued that Libra also cannot be neutral since Facebook will be obligated to verify and prevent certain transactions that are found to be in direct violation of international anti-trafficking and terrorism laws.

The Bitcoin evangelist went on to state that Libra might not be able to withstand global wars such as the ongoing trade and currency war between the US and China. Antonopoulos concluded that Libra will not be able to compete with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies either. He said that banks should be terrified as they are going to be squeezed on both sides by cryptocurrencies and tech companies like Facebook.

Third-Party Libra Partners Could Lead to Data Mismanagement

According to a recent Bloomberg report, Facebook hired third-party contractors to transcribe audio clips sourced from users of the social media platform. The Irish Data Protection Commission subsequently announced an investigation into Facebook’s activities to check for possible violations of EU privacy rules. Facebook responded by stating that “the users who were affected chose the option in Facebook’s Messenger app to have their voice chats transcribed.”

Facebook’s Libra project has raised concerns, especially as member organizations have to pay a whopping $10 million to be part of the network. Critics have pointed out that a user’s financial freedom could be controlled by a handful of countries. While the Libra project uses a power-sharing system with around 28 companies on board, it could become a center of data mismanagement if Facebook’s own data collections habits become more common among partners. That said, it’s possible the project may never even release.

Do you believe Libra is a privacy controversy waiting to happen considering Facebook’s track record? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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