Facebook Libra - Let's Send them Champagne

A lot of investments have been happening in the blockchain space over the last several months since the slowdown of the market and shutdown of ICOs. Blockchain startups like Vottun have been deploying credentials and supply chain solutions to enterprises. IBM work with Walmart and others have gotten a lot of industry publicity. Blockchain experimentation from multiple Billion dollar enterprises as reported by Forbes Blockchain 50: Billion Dollar Babies has been ongoing and continues. Financial Services giant like JP Morgan with their JPCoin shows interest and support from large financial services industry. The movement of bitcoin to more than 3x its value since January 2019 continues to support the continue interest in the Blockchain and cryptocurrency space.

However, nothing seems to have captured the widespread imagination like the announce of Libra by Facebook just a few days ago. We're now starting to have healthy conversations about blockchain and cryptocurrency again. There is even excitement from others in the industry that will compete with Libra.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, "I will send a case of champagne to Libra boss David Marcus", because of the impact that Libra has already started having on cross border payments, which is the focus of Ripple and their currency XRP.

Will people start buying and HODL or continue to watch from the sidelines? Will Facebook blockchain deployment push the market to the next level like email and a browser did for the internet market? Is this really a cryptocurrency, really a blockchain, or something else? To try to answer some of these questions Facebook published a whitepaper with their intentions. Below are some Q &As that you may find relevant from my reading of the whitepaper. These are taken from my notes as I reviewed the document. I thought the info could be a good summary for others but I also included some information from our perspective at Vottun, where we focus on blockchain traceability and interoperability solutions.

What is this about?

"1.7 billion adults globally remain outside of the financial system with no access to a traditional bank, even though one billion have a mobile phone and nearly half a billion have internet access. The mission for Libra is a simple global currency and financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people. Securing your financial assets on your mobile device should be simple and intuitive. Moving money around globally should be as easy and cost-effective as — and even more safe and secure than — sending a text message or sharing a photo, no matter where you live, what you do, or how much you earn. "

First, I have to say that I personally like this initiative because of its focus on financial inclusion and helping the unbanked global population. I was born in an emerging economy - Jamaica; was raised in, educated in, and benefitted from being a citizen of the USA; have traveled to over 50 countries; and can attest to the fact that the world is far from being a level playing field. Libra attempt to move the needle on the unbanked global problem is commendable. Utilizing blockchain technology to solve this problem is one of the best use cases of this technology. Surrounded by the likes of Paypal, Visa, Mastercard, Uber, Spotify, Lift and other prominent global partners gives instant global credibility. Obviously integrating crypto payments via Whatsapp and Messenger instantly exposes about 2 billion people to financial inclusion across the world faster than any other possible solution. It becomes evident that this is a problem that government could not solve as effectively as industry can. Though not the perfect decentralized model that we would like to see in the blockchain ecosystem, this initiative has the potential to be effective in making an impact on what can sometimes "feel" like an unsolvable problem. I believe that this project can actually give the push needed by the blockchain ecosystem to start solving real world problems.

Is this a new blockchain?

I ask this because there are multiple blockchain projects. Many are forks of Ethereum. Libra seems to take a similar approach to Ethereum but does not seem to be an Ethereum fork "the blockchain has been built from the ground up to prioritize scalability, security, efficiency in storage and throughput, and future adaptability."

Is Libra Open Source?

Yes, it is open source. "Because it is intended to address a global audience, the software that implements the Libra Blockchain is open source — designed so that anyone can build on it, and billions of people can depend on it for their financial needs. "

What components are included in the Libra Blockchain?

I am interested in this because it let us understand what can be done with the blockchain. Vottun is already integrated with Facebook and is blockchain agnostic and focus on interoperability between public and private blockchain. Libra capabilities include:

• Libra, a low-volatility cryptocurrency;
• Move, a new programming language to develop smart contracts "that makes it inherently easier to write code that fulfills the author’s intent, thereby lessening the risk of unintended bugs or security incidents";
• LibraBFT, a Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus approach to "To facilitate agreement among all validator nodes on the transactions to be executed and the order in which they are executed. This class of consensus protocols also enables high transaction throughput, low latency, and a more energy-efficient approach to consensus than “proof of work” used in some other blockchains."

Is Libra a Public (permissionless) or Private (permissioned) Blockchain?

Libra is permissioned but hopes to be permissionless in 5 years after going live. Example of permissionless blockchains are Bitcoin and Ethereum. Examples of permissioned blockchains are Hyperledger, Quorum, Alastria. Vottun is interoperable with both permissioned and permissionless blockchains. "Blockchains are described as either permissioned or permissionless in relation to the ability to participate as a validator node. In a “permissioned blockchain,” access is granted to run a validator node. In a “permissionless blockchain,” anyone who meets the technical requirements can run a validator node. In that sense, Libra will start as a permissioned blockchain.

To ensure that Libra is truly open and always operates in the best interest of its users, our ambition is for the Libra network to become permissionless. The challenge is that as of today we do not believe that there is a proven solution that can deliver the scale, stability, and security needed to support billions of people and transactions across the globe through a permissionless network. One of the association’s directives will be to work with the community to research and implement this transition, which will begin within five years of the public launch of the Libra Blockchain and ecosystem."

How is data stored?

The classic definition of blockchain is a collection of blocks of transactions chained together. Libra's approach is "In order to securely store transactions, data on the Libra Blockchain is protected by Merkle trees, a data structure used by other blockchains that enables the detection of any changes to existing data. Unlike previous blockchains, which view the blockchain as a collection of blocks of transactions, the Libra Blockchain is a single data structure that records the history of transactions and states over time. This implementation simplifies the work of applications accessing the blockchain, allowing them to read any data from any point in time and verify the integrity of that data using a unified framework."

How about identity and pseudonymity?

"The Libra Blockchain is pseudonymous and allows users to hold one or more addresses that are not linked to their real-world identity. This approach is familiar to many users, developers, and regulators. An additional goal of the association is to develop and promote an open identity standard. We believe that decentralized and portable digital identity is a prerequisite to financial inclusion and competition."

Will there be interoperability between Libra and other Blockchains?

Interoperability is a big challenge in the blockchain space today. Blockchains by definition are silos that are not designed to speak to each other. Libra imagines "an open, interoperable ecosystem of financial services that developers and organizations will build to help people and businesses hold and transfer Libra for everyday use." There was no mention if this includes interoperability between blockchains. Vottun protocol can be used for interoperability between Libra and other blockchains.

When will Libra be launched?

The Libra livenet is not expected until 2020. However, Libra has launched a testnet. "an early preview of the Libra testnet is available under the Apache 2.0 Open Source License, with accompanying documentation" This will give developers the ability to start testing apps and dapps on the Libra network. This will give the Libra team important feedback from the development community regarding potential improvements that can be made to their network.

What is the Vottun team doing to test and validate Libra?

The Vottun development team has already deployed the Libra testnet in our environment. They have already started integration of Libra to their blockchain agnostic protocol. Smart contracts are already being developed and tested with Move. Some testing that are being done on Libra include:

1. Libra Transaction Test: Create user test accounts; add Libra coins to the accounts; transfer coins between the accounts; mint the accounts to the blockchain;
2. Libra Validation Node test: launch a local validator node and do testing
3. Vottun Credentials Test: publish credentials, certificates, badges on the Libra blockchain via the Vottun credentials platform. Store credentials in student/recipients wallet along with credentials from other blockchain platforms. Cryptographically verify transactions.
4. Vottun Supply Chain Test: integrate Libra with Vottun Supply Chain product to do full traceability across a supply chain network with traceability transactions and validation done in Libra
5. Interoperability Test: Use Vottun protocol to interoperate between Libra and public & private blockchains including Ethereum, Hyperledger, Alastria, Quorum and others

Test results will be made public to the blockchain community.

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Rohan Hall is co-founder and CTO at Vottun. He is a published author, entrepreneur, public speaker with expertise in Blockchain, AI, Cognitive Intelligence and other emerging technologies. He has over 30 years experience in technology working with Global 500 organizations and startups. Some companies he has worked with include Capital Group | American Funds, HP, Oracle/PeopleSoft, Honda, Corning, NV Energy, Robert Half, American Red Cross, and others.

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