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In the hours that followed, Zuckerberg’s outline of the Libra plan was drowned out by pontificating U.S. politicians who monopolized media coverage that continued to caricature Facebook as an untrustworthy lawbreaker and suppressor of basic rights. Facebook, House committee chairwoman Maxine Waters said, should be broken up rather than allowed to expand into something so vital as money.

But Zuckerberg’s words contain some of the core rationales for a currency proposal that has rattled the foundations of the government-controlled global monetary system, from central bankers to finance ministers, and corporate bank executives to leading academics.

“Being shut out of the financial system has real consequences for people’s lives,” he said of the billion-plus people without bank accounts, “and it’s often the most disadvantaged people who pay the highest price.

The idea behind Libra is that sending money should be as easy and secure as sending a text message Mark Zuckerberg

“People pay far too high a cost — and have to wait far too long — to send money home to their families abroad. The current system is failing them. The financial industry is stagnant and there is no digital financial architecture to support the innovation that we need. I believe this problem can be solved, and Libra can help.

“The idea behind Libra is that sending money should be as easy and secure as sending a text message. Libra will be a global payments system, fully backed by a reserve of cash and other highly liquid assets.”

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Like it or not, Facebook is the new leading trigger for a currency revolution that’s already underway in China and India and now suddenly seems long overdue in the Western world. Libra may not make the world go around — yet — but it has certainly sent the established global money governance regimes into a panicky spin.