What is the Libra Association? Libra Association Review

The Libra Association, the governing body behind Facebook’s eponymous stablecoin launched in late 2019, has formed a new committee to guide the network’s technical development.

About the Libra Association

According to a Jan. 16 announcement, the Libra Association has voted to form a five-member Technical Steering Committee comprised of leading experts from multiple companies in the fintech and blockchain industries.

Members include: Calibra core product lead George Cabrera III, Anchorage co-founder Diogo Monica, Union Square Ventures partner Nick Grossman, Bison Trails CEO and founder Joe Lallouz and Mercy Corps director of emerging technology Ric Shreves.

In overseeing the technical aspects of the Libra network’s development, the committee will guide the Libra network’s technical roadmap, form working groups to prioritize selected research avenues, direct the development of the codebase, and discuss macro aspects of how to grow and engage the Libra development community.

The statement said the creation of an independent committee is in line with the Libra project’s goals of being “independent of any organization’s control” and achieving decentralization and autonomy.

The commission said it will publish its technology governance framework and other related documents by the end of the first fiscal quarter of 2020.

Independent of any organization

Facebook’s announcement of the Libra stablecoin and payments network and corresponding Calibra wallet last year sent shockwaves through the technology and cryptocurrency communities, while around the world lawmakers and regulators spent time examining the project.

The social media giant has been at the forefront of some regulators’ concerns over its past with data breaches and mishandling of user information. At a hearing before the U.S. Congress last summer, Calibra head David Marcus assured lawmakers (some more convinced than others) that Facebook would not have access to the financial records and information of Libra users and that this data would be kept separate from the social platform’s user data.

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, the company behind the XRP token, said Libra might not receive regulatory approval before 2023, noting that the stablecoin’s debut might have gone better if Facebook wasn’t at the helm of the project.

In fact, regulators have been struggling to classify new assets. Last November, U.S. lawmakers proposed legislation to regulate coins under securities laws.

After the bill was introduced, the Libra Association quietly updated the token’s white paper, with the biggest change being the elimination of dividends payable to those early investors. The change not only eliminates potential conflicts of interest between Libra Association members and the currency’s end users, but also could address concerns that Libra could be classified as a security.