Produced by Odaily
Author | Wang Ye
Editor | Lu Xiaoming
Produced by Odaily
Author | Wang Ye
Editor | Lu Xiaoming
On June 18, Facebook officially launched its cryptocurrency "Libra" (Libra) official website, and released the Libra white paper at the same time. In an instant, Facebook attracted global attention. Internet giants such as Tencent CEO, Ma Huateng Sogou CEO Wang Xiaochuan, and Meituan founder Wang Xing all stood up to comment on Facebook's entry into cryptocurrency.
You must have browsed the comments of many bigwigs on Facebook’s launch of Libra in the past two days, so what impact will Facebook’s Libra have on the giants in the traditional payment field and the leaders in the cryptocurrency world?
Based on the public speeches on the Internet, Odaily sorted out the following speeches that can be regarded as competitors of Facebook:
Western Union CEO Comments on Libra: The real cost of remittance lies in providing customers with the last mile service
On June 19, Hikmet Ersek, CEO of Western Union, commented on Libra in an interview with Fortune. Hikmet said that Libra still has a lot of work to do in developing a complete payment and remittance system. , especially when considering the unbanked who may need to pay and receive actual cash, not just transactions on their phones.
Western Union is the world's largest cross-border express remittance company with more than 20% of the global market share. It has a history of 150 years and has cooperated with Ripple to launch a payment trial project based on blockchain technology. It is worth noting that Western Union did not appear on the list of Libra's initial verification nodes like Visa, MasterCard, and Paypal.
Hikmet pointed out: "The real cost is to provide the last mile service for customers, whether it is electronic money or pay in person. You have to stand on the streets of Cairo, the streets of Nairobi. It took us many, many years to establish a transfer of 3000 per year. billion-dollar global system.”
Hikmet further stated that for Western Union, this requires an extensive network of local offices. Customers have to trust that $500 sent from Chicago to Jamaica will arrive in minutes in more than 130 currencies and with fraud detection. Hikmet finally asked: "Libra is more of a payment system than the last mile, how do you convert this currency into fiat currency? How do you do it?"
EOS founder BM commented on Libra: almost no innovation
In the early morning of June 20th, BM actively responded to community questions in the Telegram group. The following is an overview of the important content: 1. A member shared news about B1 buying the Voice.com domain name for $30 million in the group, and BM replied: This shows that How much do we invest in Voice; 2. Some members mentioned that Libra will be a huge opportunity for DApp developers, BM replied: a block is generated in 10 seconds, TPS is less than 1000, there are restrictions on new languages and handling fees, almost none See innovation; 3. BM: Mass adoption is the wrong goal, only 5% adoption is needed. Some members replied: How to achieve 5% adoption rate? When to start mass marketing? How to get lazy people to use EOSIO? BM: The proportion of lazy people is about 95%. You can’t force people to learn (blockchain knowledge) unless they want to learn voluntarily; 4. Some members asked: Why didn’t B1 talk to companies like FB to switch to EOSIO? BM reply: Who said we didn't do this?
Co-founder of Wyoming Blockchain Alliance: Libra will affect companies such as Paypal and Western Union
Caitlin Long, co-founder of the Wyoming Blockchain Alliance, believes that Facebook's digital currency will indeed affect companies such as PayPal and Western Union. However, it would have a positive impact on people living in developing countries as it would "indirectly put pressure on central banks not to devalue their currencies".
Ant Financial: No change in stance on digital currency and blockchain
