So excited to share what I've been working on for the last year! It's been the most challenging, interesting, and inspiring thing I've ever been a part of. Today is not a launch, but an announcement, and an invitation for the community to participate.

— Kevin Weil (@kevinweil) June 18, 2019

Libra is one of the most impressive big company initiatives I’ve seen in a while. Bold. Forward thinking. Open source. Commitment of distribution across billions. Will see if they can get over the trust line and become truly open

— Josh Elman (@joshelman) June 18, 2019

1/ This is a massive announcement and a lot to unpack so let’s do it in a concise thread. I wouldn’t be surprised if the news is not reported well by non-crypto reporters. https://t.co/u74sZT6poa

— Larry Cermak (@lawmaster) June 18, 2019

Clearly the best way for Facebook to help poor people without access to banks is to place executives in Switzerland with money from Visa and Mastercard https://t.co/xRkqiS9AQH pic.twitter.com/ngSapTYqCq

— nilay patel (@reckless) June 18, 2019

If there’s one thing Facebook knows, it’s how to run a stable global system where they totally understand what they’ve built and are on top of everything. https://t.co/DPOFv57PoB

— Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) June 18, 2019

FB's best case w Libra: It's a new, open, shared Internet of money! People get frictionless transactions and use messaging more.
FB's worst case w Libra: Everyone sees it as a dystopian, privacy snooping Facecoin.https://t.co/MlRuncCpJL

— Nicholas Thompson (@nxthompson) June 18, 2019

All of this sounds dandy if you ignore the company with the largest reach in history trying to make an end run around currency/governments https://t.co/b548WaPs9Q

— Owen Williams ⚡ (@ow) June 18, 2019

2/ I know, I know, “it’s not a cryptocurrency!!!” some will yell. Well, yes and no. Relative to PayPal or to the US dollar, Libra is very much a cryptocurrency. Relative to Bitcoin or ZCash or DAI, Libra is not all that crypto-y.

— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) June 18, 2019

My Libra tech TL;DR

ETH but not a blockchain, without inflation, native unit is a Tether-like, centralized validator set, Stellar like consensus, maybe DPoS in the future, validators paid with interest from the reserve.

— Antoine Le Calvez (@khannib) June 18, 2019

New from the company that recklessly gambled with your privacy: An attempt to recklessly gamble with your money. https://t.co/LYZS0WXKhq

— Ernie Smith (@ShortFormErnie) June 18, 2019

The new Facebook-backed cryptocurrency Libra could be a big step for the hundreds of millions of unbanked around the world. It’s use of the blockchain makes a lot of sense. Could even curb corruption as a lot of int’l aid money intended for impoverished people never reaches them.

— Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) June 18, 2019

I don't understand how Libra can claim to target the unbanked while offering absolutely no clarity as to how people will get on the system in the first place

— alex hern (@alexhern) June 18, 2019

Facebook needs to be stopped before it subverts our democracies and economies. https://t.co/l8QYHBlHVs #Libra

— Voyage Around My Dad, Harry Leslie Smith (@Harryslaststand) June 18, 2019

oh FOR FUCK’S SAKE https://t.co/Kl5yB3jUtH

— jillian (@jilliancyork) June 18, 2019

Facebook: we can’t keep live-streamed shootings off our video platform, but here’s a global currency!

— Susan Fowler (@susanthesquark) June 18, 2019

Well, they’ve certainly earned our trust enough to be worth betting the stability of global financial systems on their judgment. https://t.co/EVXo2LKsck

— Anil Dash ? (@anildash) June 18, 2019

1/ There is quite a lot to digest around #LibraCoin. Much of the discussion so far has focused on the technology elements and the legal and regulatory and framework. I am more intrigued by the underlying economics. https://t.co/K7LVeXvOor

— Lewis Cohen (@NYcryptolawyer) June 18, 2019

Don't get why the crypto community shitting on Facebook and Libra. It's probably the mainstream kickstart + broad adoption blockchain needs.

You ever see any pure plays get this kind of groundswell? -> https://t.co/ErRcAhwCzf

— Spencer Chen (@spencerchen) June 18, 2019

With Facebook (among other tech giants like eBay, Spotify) entering the financial world with #Libra, improving diversity in tech is no longer a want but a necessity. The people who aren't represented in these rooms will be harmed in the long term. We need our girls and minorities https://t.co/hvN6x5rE1X

— Reshma Saujani (@reshmasaujani) June 18, 2019

FT"s take on Facebook's Libra coin: A "brazen attempt to override national monetary sovereignty by creating a global-scale Federal Reserve equivalent... veiled by the cunning use of buzzwords like blockchain, DLT, decentralisation and cryptocurrency."https://t.co/ZniCKB5w5C

— Robert McMillan (@bobmcmillan) June 18, 2019

1/ Hello, ≋

— David Marcus (@davidmarcus) June 18, 2019

"We believe Libra has the potential to be the catalyst that brings the entire cryptocurrency and cryptoasset market into the mainstream." ~ @nickgrossman on @usv's participation https://t.co/ZAHNJkdwTd pic.twitter.com/nC4aWIStmz

— Mike Dudas (@mdudas) June 18, 2019

My star sign is not your cryptocurrency. #Libra https://t.co/mvrLLCxUuA

— Twitch.tv/Limmy (@DaftLimmy) June 18, 2019

5% of my Twitter feed: Facebook's Libra is a super ambitious project that will help bring crypto to the mainstream and bring tremendous benefits and financial freedom to users around the globe.
15%: Let's wait and see.
80%: Facebook and money? #kthxbai https://t.co/0NYKUPif0v

— Mahendra Palsule (@ScepticGeek) June 18, 2019

Most crypto projects & startups build tech & applications, and then tried (or are trying to) build a network around it.

Libra (& TON) by contrast are currencies developed by large incumbents who already have a massive network built.

It will be fascinating to see what unfolds.

— Semil (@semil) June 18, 2019

.@nickgrossman on Libra, if it works, could lead to "self-sovereign digital identities (private keys) that are the underpinnings of user-controlled privacy and control of data."

(key paragraphs screenshot)https://t.co/wPDqXC88WJ pic.twitter.com/QtNVZuMS1X

— Semil (@semil) June 18, 2019

Facebook has built themselves quite a henhouse, and assembled a nice group of foxes to help them watch over it. I genuinely hope they can pull it off, but it’s going to take a lot to earn my trust. https://t.co/qGAqW5UA26

— David Barnard (@drbarnard) June 18, 2019

Binance Research Report - First Look: Libra - An in-depth review of Facebook's long-anticipated entry into cryptocurrency https://t.co/s4xlGDHVPb

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) June 18, 2019

Facebook Libra coin don't need KYC. They have so much more data on the 2 billion people. Not just name, id, address, phone number. They know your family, friends, real-time/historic location, what you like... They know you more than yourself. And now your wallet too. Best AML!

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) June 18, 2019

THREAD: Here are my thoughts on Libra. It is a permissioned but public blockchain. It’s public because the Blockchain will be publicly verifiable and the application layer is open. So it’s like a backed stablecoin, but with key differences. pic.twitter.com/UZ3fkczWGb

— Jerry Brito (@jerrybrito) June 18, 2019

Fascinating meta-tea-leaves reading moment, looking at people’s reactions to FB’s #Libra: Self segmenting into:
- libertarians
- crypto lovers +scammers
- tech utopians
- believers
- skeptics
- deep skepticshttps://t.co/dLV2wjK1Mq

— Atul Acharya (@AtulAcharya) June 18, 2019

World's biggest platform for spreading extremism across vast distances now offering money laundering across vast distances. https://t.co/TLONuLbO7n

— Dean Barker (@deanbarker) June 18, 2019

Facebook Board Meeting:

“We’re one of the least trusted, most scandal-plagued companies in the world. What should our next move be?”

“Launch our own currency.” https://t.co/zeGi4qsKWP

— Daniel Munro (@dk_munro) June 18, 2019

Facebook is already too big and too powerful, and it has used that power to exploit users’ data without protecting their privacy. We cannot allow Facebook to run a risky new cryptocurrency out of a Swiss bank account without oversight. https://t.co/IjZOFNai3r

— Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) June 18, 2019

Gonna lose your whole bank account when FB has another “minor security breach” https://t.co/NvqpE1lSIl

— A West (@ayyy_west) June 18, 2019

A TLDR for my Libra deep dive:

Libra blockchain:
- permissioned (will slowly transition to permissionless)
- open-source
- smart contracts
- new programming language, Move
- pseudonymous
- launching in first half 2020

— Stan Schroeder (@franticnews) June 18, 2019

Facebook finally pulled back the curtain on its crypto plans, and now officially wants to creat a new global currency called Libra. It’s also building new digital wallets into WhatsApp and Messenger so you can make payments. Here are the details:https://t.co/73KzzsbfCS

— Kurt Wagner (@KurtWagner8) June 18, 2019

Facebook's Libra seems like a sixteen kinds of disaster waiting to happen, but I have to say I am looking forward to watching Zuck try to defend a currency peg against speculative attack.

— Ryan Avent (@ryanavent) June 18, 2019

Belief is a powerful thing. Libra has nothing going for it, save the ability of Facebook to generate tens of millions of dollars worth of column inches. It is garbage, obviously, and relies solely on belief as its core technology. https://t.co/E2ilKiTsOp pic.twitter.com/WlwN2v7x5r

— Beautyon (@Beautyon_) June 18, 2019

Facebook announces its crypto subsidiary Calibra is registered with US FinCENhttps://t.co/k5bWBUY0KA

— The Block (@TheBlock__) June 18, 2019

Facebook's crypto subsidiary Calibra is registered with US FinCEN https://t.co/XusZn9Ob8P

— Frank Chaparro (@fintechfrank) June 18, 2019

Some additional thoughts on @usv joining the Libra Association https://t.co/XKoqSOHAlq

— Albert Wenger (@albertwenger) June 18, 2019

Short post here https://t.co/XKoqSOHAlq

— Albert Wenger (@albertwenger) June 18, 2019

Remember the early-day misconception that Bitcoin is “anonymous”? Amusingly, it seems the ultimate fate of blockchains is as a public record of everyone’s transactions, run by the world’s largest ad network and its partners #surveillancecapitalism https://t.co/Hd8m65u9TG

— Martin Dittus (@dekstop) June 18, 2019

HUR DUR MUH BITCOIN MAXIMISMhttps://t.co/vlfeJNKEwE

— Amir Taaki (@Narodism) June 18, 2019

Big shot at Apple. https://t.co/iaDy1hz7sz

— Daniel Sinclair (@_DanielSinclair) June 18, 2019