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Unchained

A Libra Co-Creator on How Facebook Will Make Money From Calibra - Ep.144

Unchained

Laura Shin

Business News, News, Tech News

4.61.3K Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2019

⏱️ 69 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Christian Catalini, co-creator of Libra and chief economist at Calibra, explains why Facebook made the design choices it made for Libra, reveals whether the team was prepared for the regulatory blowback it received after publishing the white paper, and talks about what it means for Libra now that nearly all the initial payment company members have left the Association. He describes how Facebook defined stability for Libra, whether the Chinese renminbi could ever be added to the reserve the way it is part of the IMF special drawing rights basket, and if so, what the Libra or Calibra would do if the Chinese government tried to censor individuals or transactions in the system. We also cover the tension between the desire to have strong know-your-customer and anti-money laundering processes on the platform but then also to bank the unbanked, who often don't have strong government identification. We also discuss how Facebook will make money from Calibra, what it would take for Facebook to let the Libra Association go forward without it, and why Facebook, which not too long ago was trying to woo China to enter the Chinese market, now says it is the best counterweight to a Chinese digital yuan. Plus, he answers how Facebook and Calibra will handle privacy.  Thank you to our sponsors!  Crypto.com: https://crypto.com/ Kraken: https://www.kraken.com/ CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained Episode links:  Christian Catalini: https://twitter.com/ccatalini Libra: https://libra.org/en-US/ Calibra: https://calibra.com/ Libra white paper: https://libra.org/en-US/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2019/06/LibraWhitePaper_en_US.pdf Letters to payment companies from Congress: https://www.schatz.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Signed%20Letters%20re%20Libra%20to%20Patrick%20Collison,%20Ajaypal%20Banga,%20and%20Alfred%20Kelly.pdf Mark Zuckerberg's testimony in front of Congress: https://www.c-span.org/video/?465293-1/facebook-ceo-testimony-house-financial-services-committee Reported breakdown of the Libra reserve: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-libra-basket/u-s-dollar-to-be-main-currency-underpinning-facebooks-libra-spiegel-idUSKBN1W522K Calibra — can send money at low to no cost: https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/06/coming-in-2020-calibra/ Chargebacks in Libra: https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/18/18682838/facebook-digital-wallet-calibra-libra-cryptocurrency-kevin-weil-david-marcus-interview Asian central banks not too open to Libra: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-10-22/facebook-scaling-back-libra-will-please-asian-central-banks Unconfirmed interview about UN work with blockchain-based vouchers: https://unchainedpodcast.com/the-un-world-food-programmes-blockchain-based-food-vouchers-for-syrian-refugees-with-robert-opp/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi everyone. Welcome to Unchained, your no-hype resource for all things

0:07.8

crypto. I'm your host Laura Shin. If you enjoy Unchained or Unconfirmed

0:12.4

to my other podcast, which now features a weekly news recap after every interview,

0:17.0

please give us a top rating or review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to the show.

0:21.0

This helps other listeners find out about my

0:24.1

podcast. Cypress cutting-edge cryptocurrency intelligence powers anti-money

0:29.6

laundering, blockchain analytics, and threat Intel.

0:33.0

Leading exchanges, virtual currency businesses, banks, and regulators themselves

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use cipher Trace to comply with

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Krakkin is the best exchange in the world for buying and selling digital

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Fiat on-ramp or futures trading, Krakhan is the place for you.

1:16.7

My guest today is Christian Catalini, co-creator of Libra and head economist at Calibra.

1:21.6

Welcome Christian. It's a pleasure to be here, Laura.

1:24.4

Libra has been one of the biggest crypto stories of the year, though we will talk

1:29.2

about whether or not this is being usurped from that status, But first let's dive into your background. What were you

1:35.9

doing before you got involved with Libra and how did you become its co-creator?

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