They say money makes the world go around. But, in the case of Libra, money makes the world go slightly hysterical. Politicians, central bankers, regulators, economists and business chiefs across the world have been brought into a state of frenzy by Facebook’s proposed new digital currency.
Some say that Libra will hail a new era of financial inclusion for billions of the world’s ‘unbanked’. For others, Libra represents little more than a neoliberalism nightmare in which private enterprise seizes control of our monetary sovereignty. One thing is for sure: by triggering this frenetic debate, agitation and uncertainty, Mark Zuckerberg’s goal of connecting the world is beginning to play out.
Given that a day in the life of Libra is the equivalent of a season of Game of Thrones — miss one week’s episode and you have no idea what’s going on — let’s take a quick recap of where we are in the story so far.
To call it a fairy-tale would be an overstatement. Of the 28 founding members of the Libra Association, seven have now defected, touting concerns over the regulation and feasibility of the project. On the regulatory side, Facebook has faced formidable opposition from US lawmakers who claim that the currency will be used, among other things, to facilitate monetary laundering and terrorist financing.
It has faced even greater hostility on the international stage. In September, France and Germany made a joint decision to block Libra on the grounds that “no private entity can claim monetary power”, and last year India took the general step of banning all non-sovereign cryptocurrencies.
Then there’s Facebook. Once the tech darling, the blue-faced social media giant is now caught at the centre of a web of privacy scandals, data breaches, fake news, clickbait, violent content and electoral interference. Little wonder that so many question whether Facebook — last year voted the world’s least trustworthy company — should be the champion of the first truly universal digital currency.
So yes, there have been more than a few bumps in the road. But is Libra treading the road of Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic dystopia or is it, in fact, on the road of yellow bricks walked by Dorothy and her faithful companions? Well, nobody quite knows. But we think there are good reasons to suggest that the situation isn’t as bleak as the neigh-sayers would have you believe.
Let’s first deal with the Facebook-shaped elephant in the room. Yes, Facebook has been mired in scandal, particularly relating to user data and privacy, but it is now tackling such problems head on across all of its platforms. In the case of Libra, this means that all transaction details and financial data will be kept completely separate from users’ social media profiles. And let us not forget all of what Facebook can offer this project. It’s financial muscle and enormous reach — with 2.5 billion active users, many of whom are located in the developing world — positions Facebook as perhaps the only company capable of delivering such a socially and economically ambitious venture.
We also think the widely-publicised Libra Association defections should be taken with a healthy pinch of salt. Four of the defectors are payments companies: MasterCard, PayPal, Stripe and Visa. Given that Libra has always posed to them an existential threat, it was fair to question their commitment from the outset. As such, their abandonment of the project is as unsurprising as it is calculated. Or, in the words of Libra chief David Marcus, “not great news in the short term, but in a way it’s liberating”.
On the other side of the coin, Libra still has the support of 20 global brands, with another 1500 companies who have applied to join. Other big-named advocates include Foxconn founder Terry Gou and Bank of England governor Mark Carney, who has publicly criticised “slow and expensive” online payment systems.
As the head of a central bank, Mr Carney’s support for Libra is somewhat surprising given the oft-stated contention that Libra undermines the monetary sovereignty of nation states. We wouldn’t presume to know Mr Carney’s true position on this issue, but it could be that he recognises the nature of this threat for what it really is: overhyped.
Firstly, the claim that Libra provides private companies with means to alter the value of currency is redundant since the majority of currency creation in the modern economy is already performed by private entities (i.e. commercial banks making loans) as made clear in a 2014 report by the Bank of England. Secondly, I would argue that Libra's 'stablecoin' design — backed by a basket of low-risk, real assets — offers less volatility than individual fiat currencies and is less able to be used by countries as ammunition in currency wars. In this sense, Libra offers a distinct advantage to traditional monetary policy.
And, for those that are set on extolling Libra’s political clout, surely this represents America’s best weapon against a Chinese government with clear ambitions to control the digital currency space and the technological might to back it up. A digital renminbi, which could be launched in as little as six to 12 months, could set China on a path to monetary supremacy. This is now one of the key arguments being made by Mark Zuckerberg, who has warned that, “if America doesn’t innovate, [its] financial leadership is not guaranteed”.
So, Libra might be down, but it is far from out. Just last week, it was announced that the Libra testnet has been running for five months and “growing strong”, logging more than 51,000 transactions. The testnet has also developed 34 projects, including 10 wallets and 11 blockchain explorers. Customarily, this news was overshadowed by the wrangling of Libra’s many detractors, but it shows that behind the noise, Libra’s engines are quietly motoring forward.
So then, still a Libra-phobe? Hopefully not. A Libra-sceptic, maybe. Give it a year and, who knows, you might even be a Be-libra.
Ahmed Ismail is CEO and co-founder of digital asset platform HAYVN
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Company profile
Company name: Suraasa
Started: 2018
Founders: Rishabh Khanna, Ankit Khanna and Sahil Makker
Based: India, UAE and the UK
Industry: EdTech
Initial investment: More than $200,000 in seed funding
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
The biog
Born November 11, 1948
Education: BA, English Language and Literature, Cairo University
Family: Four brothers, seven sisters, two daughters, 42 and 39, two sons, 43 and 35, and 15 grandchildren
Hobbies: Reading and traveling
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UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
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BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE
Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”
Brief scores:
Day 1
Toss: South Africa, field first
Pakistan (1st innings) 177: Sarfraz 56, Masood 44; Olivier 4-48
South Africa (1st innings) 123-2: Markram 78; Masood 1-4
Mubalada World Tennis Championship 2018 schedule
Thursday December 27
Men's quarter-finals
Kevin Anderson v Hyeon Chung 4pm
Dominic Thiem v Karen Khachanov 6pm
Women's exhibition
Serena Williams v Venus Williams 8pm
Friday December 28
5th place play-off 3pm
Men's semi-finals
Rafael Nadal v Anderson/Chung 5pm
Novak Djokovic v Thiem/Khachanov 7pm
Saturday December 29
3rd place play-off 5pm
Men's final 7pm
Series information
Pakistan v Dubai
First Test, Dubai International Stadium
Sun Oct 6 to Thu Oct 11
Second Test, Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Tue Oct 16 to Sat Oct 20
Play starts at 10am each day
Teams
Pakistan
1 Mohammed Hafeez, 2 Imam-ul-Haq, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Haris Sohail, 6 Babar Azam, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed, 8 Bilal Asif, 9 Yasir Shah, 10, Mohammed Abbas, 11 Wahab Riaz or Mir Hamza
Australia
1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Mitchell Marsh, 5 Travis Head, 6 Marnus Labuschagne, 7 Tim Paine, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Jon Holland
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
'The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting up a Generation for Failure'
Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, Penguin Randomhouse
No Shame
Lily Allen
(Parlophone)
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
Breaking News: The Remaking of Journalism and Why It Matters Now
Alan Rushbridger, Canongate
Veil (Object Lessons)
Rafia Zakaria
Bloomsbury Academic
Meydan Racecourse racecard:
6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes Listed (PA) | Dh175,000 | 1,900m
7.05pm: Maiden for 2-year-old fillies (TB) | Dh165,000 | 1,400m
7.40pm: The Dubai Creek Mile Listed (TB) | Dh265,000 | 1,600m
8.15pm: Maiden for 2-year-old colts (TB) | Dh165,000 | 1,600m
8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) | Dh265,000 | 2,000m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) | Dh190,000 | 1,200m
10pm: Handicap (TB) | Dh190,000 | 1,600m.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Results:
Men’s wheelchair 200m T34: 1. Walid Ktila (TUN) 27.14; 2. Mohammed Al Hammadi (UAE) 27.81; 3. Rheed McCracken (AUS) 27.81.
The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
All you need to know about Formula E in Saudi Arabia
What The Saudia Ad Diriyah E-Prix
When Saturday
Where Diriyah in Saudi Arabia
What time Qualifying takes place from 11.50am UAE time through until the Super Pole session, which is due to end at 12.55pm. The race, which will last for 45 minutes, starts at 4.05pm.
Who is competing There are 22 drivers, from 11 teams, on the grid, with each vehicle run solely on electronic power.
Have you been targeted?
Tuan Phan of SimplyFI.org lists five signs you have been mis-sold to:
1. Your pension fund has been placed inside an offshore insurance wrapper with a hefty upfront commission.
2. The money has been transferred into a structured note. These products have high upfront, recurring commission and should never be in a pension account.
3. You have also been sold investment funds with an upfront initial charge of around 5 per cent. ETFs, for example, have no upfront charges.
4. The adviser charges a 1 per cent charge for managing your assets. They are being paid for doing nothing. They have already claimed massive amounts in hidden upfront commission.
5. Total annual management cost for your pension account is 2 per cent or more, including platform, underlying fund and advice charges.
How to help
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
2252 - Dh50
6025 - Dh20
6027 - Dh100
6026 - Dh200
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
New Zealand 15 British & Irish Lions 15
New Zealand 15
Tries: Laumape, J Barrett
Conversions: B Barrett
Penalties: B Barrett
British & Irish Lions 15
Penalties: Farrell (4), Daly
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
The Freedom Artist
By Ben Okri (Head of Zeus)
Best Foreign Language Film nominees
Capernaum (Lebanon)
Cold War (Poland)
Never Look Away (Germany)
Roma (Mexico)
Shoplifters (Japan)
How tumultuous protests grew
- A fuel tax protest by French drivers appealed to wider anti-government sentiment
- Unlike previous French demonstrations there was no trade union or organised movement involved
- Demonstrators responded to online petitions and flooded squares to block traffic
- At its height there were almost 300,000 on the streets in support
- Named after the high visibility jackets that drivers must keep in cars
- Clashes soon turned violent as thousands fought with police at cordons
- An estimated two dozen people lost eyes and many others were admitted to hospital
My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci
Pushkin Press
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)
Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
Results
2.15pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Arrab, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer).
2.45pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Mahaleel, Antonio Fresu, Ernst Oertel.
3.15pm: Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum handicap (TB) Dh200,000 2,000m; Winner: Dolmen, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
3.45pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,200m; Winner: Amang Alawda, Sandro Paiva, Bakhit Al Ketbi.
4.15pm: The Crown Prince of Sharjah Cup Prestige (PA) Dh200,000 1,200m; Winner: AF Alwajel, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel.
4.45pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 2,000m; Winner: Al Jazi, Jesus Rosales, Eric Lemartinel.
Bahrain%20GP
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GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
