In a recent CNBC interview, Ripple’s senior vice president of customer success Marcus Treacher has described Facebook’s Libra crypto project as a “walled garden,” meaning a closed system.
He also added that in contrast with Facebook Libra, Ripple (XRP)trade is no walled garden; however, the social media giant’s entry into the crypto world is a really good thing for the domain. The term ‘walled garden’ had been used in past for companies like Apple and Facebook which are known for having very tight control over the whole ecosystem of their apps and software, an thereby market share.
Facebook is planning to roll out its Libra cryptocurrency at some point in 2020. The promising digital currency has been criticized quite often not only by financial experts and regulators, but also at the political level. Now Marcus Treacher, Ripple’s senior vice president of customer success has also raised negative sentiment in the interview published Friday and said that Facebook Libra has a major flow which is its highly guarded and centralized structure which doesn’t go along with the definition and principles of cryptocurrency.
Facebook Libra will be backed by fiat currencies and stored in the digital vault called Libra Reserve. The Libra cryptocurrency will serve as an internal virtual currency for various Facebook platforms where users will be able to send and receive digital payments to and from each other. The proposed Libra token will be administered in the crypto-friendly country Switzerland and managed by a Geneva-based organization known as the Libra Association which has major tech companies as stakeholders including PayPal, Visa, and Uber.
Ripple is also based on a blockchain, a decentralized database where Ripple doesn’t have any such restrictions which could describe the digital currency Ripple (XRP)trade as a ‘walled garden’. Today, the Ripple Network is used by some of the world’s leading banks to conduct cross-border transactions in a real-time manner.
Treacher said that Ripple, by contrast with Facebook: “Yes it’s a network, but it has no perimeter. It connects with all of the players that want to use the technology.” That said, Treacher appreciated Facebook’s plan for a digital currency and said that Facebook getting into the digital assets space is a “really good thing.” The Libra crypto project will surely boost the adoption of cryptocurrencies and expand the horizon of digital currencies.
Facebook Libra has already struggled with regulatory and political issues all over the world. Several US congress members wrote an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to halt the development of the Libra. In addition to that, Germany and France have also announced that they intend to impose a ban on Libra on European soil.
