This article comes fromCoinDesk, original author: Brady Dale

Odaily Translator |

This article comes from

, original author: Brady Dale

Odaily Translator |

Finally, the long-awaited Facebook cryptocurrency Libra white paper was released.

In this 29-page white paper, a protocol designed to support a new global currency is described, which can be summed up in one sentence in simple terms:

"The Libra Blockchain is a decentralized, programmable database designed to support a low-volatility cryptocurrency with the ability to be an effective medium of exchange for billions of people around the world."

As the first step to achieve the goal of decentralization, the Libra blockchain protocol will be handed over to a new organization: the Libra Association (Libra Association), whose members will hold tokens separately and can vote on the chain to make decisions. Governance decisions related to the Libra Blockchain.

Not only that, but Facebook has also created a brand new programming language, Move, that allows developers to write commands on the blockchain and open their software to public inspection. In order to verify the design of the Libra protocol, Facebook has built an open source prototype to implement Libra Core, hoping to promote the development of the ecosystem through global collaboration.

In fact, many sources who visited Facebook said that in the past few months, Facebook has done a lot of "homework", they borrowed a lot from existing cryptocurrency projects in the market, and added their own Ideas for updates and improvements.

Next, let Mr. Odaily (WeChat: o-daily) and everyone take a look at which cryptocurrencies are "referenced" by the Libra cryptocurrency.

1. Like Bitcoin, there is no real identity on the Libra blockchain

From the perspective of the blockchain itself, "you" does not exist, because only public-private key pairs exist on the blockchain. The Libra white paper states:

“The Libra protocol does not tie accounts to real-world identities. Users are free to create multiple accounts by generating multiple key pairs. Accounts controlled by the same user are not inherently linked to each other.”

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2. Like Hyperledger, the Libra blockchain requires authorization (at least initially)

The Libra blockchain selects some reputable entities (not a democratic choice) to establish consensus early on, according to its white paper:

"The founding members are all reputable organizations, so it's unlikely they would act in bad faith."

These entities include traditional payment networks (Mastercard, Visa), Internet and giant economy giants (eBay, Lyft), blockchain organizations (Xapo), and venture capital firms (Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital).

3. Like Tezos, Libra has on-chain governance

The only entities with voting rights at the outset are the Founding Members, who hold Libra Investment Tokens, which give Founding Members voting rights on the network, allowing them to manage the reserve and approve new validations people join the network.

Initially, the governance structure will be built into the Move software, which is actually the same as Tezos. However, Facebook will certainly revise this governance model over time, and updates will be necessary as the Libra Association will surely add members later and move from a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS)-like system (coins such as EOS or steem) evolved into a fully decentralized proof-of-stake ecosystem.

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• 4. Like Ethereum, Libra supports currency "programmable"
  

• But unlike Ethereum, Libra has made two important changes in its smart contracts.

First, it limits what users can do with the protocol initially (Move's functionality isn't turned on yet);

Second, it factorizes data out of software, so a smart contract (which Move calls a "module") can point to any pool of assets, which Move calls a "resource." So, one set of codes can be used for any number of wallets or collections of assets.

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5. Like Ethereum, the Libra blockchain believes that proof of equity is the general trend of the future, but it seems that it is not ready yet

"Over time, membership will transition to being fully open, and the Libra Blockchain will be open to all: any consumer, developer, or company can use Libra, whether in a permissioned or permissionless state." network, build products on top of that network, and add value through their services."

At the same time, Libra does not support blockchain solutions with the "longest chain" (i.e. Bitcoin), claiming:

“We did not consider a proof-of-work based protocol due to its poor performance and high energy (and environmental) costs.”

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Last year, Binance Chain became very influential by consciously burning BNB tokens. As the world's leading exchange,

Binance created the exchange’s native token, BNB, which users can use to pay transaction fees at a “discounted rate.” In fact, it was Binance who pioneered the process of burning their native tokens, burning most of their profits from BNB payments.

Of course, Libra will not increase its own value by burning tokens. Unlike collateralized stablecoins like Tether, which are constantly issued and burned, the Libra Association responds to changes in demand for its reserves, so they don't give a specific maximum or minimum supply of tokens.

7. Like coda, users do not need to hold the entire transaction history

Coda is an encryption protocol that most people don't know about, and it was actually one of the first single-use ledger protocols. Users only need to hold proof of the last block, which can be easily checked on a smartphone, while ensuring that transactions interact with a valid ledger.

Similarly, historical data on Libra may exceed the amount that a single server can handle. At this time, transaction validators are free to discard historical data that is not required to process new transactions.