(FILES) In this file photo taken on May 1, 2018 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during the annual F8 summit at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. - Facebook is leaping into the world of cryptocurrency with its own digital money, designed to let people save, send or spend money as easily as firing off text messages."Libra" -- described as "a new global currency" -- was unveiled June 18, 2019 in a new initiative in payments for the world's biggest social network with the potential to bring crypto-money out of the shadows and into the mainstream. Facebook and an array of partners released a prototype of Libra as an open source code to be used by developers interested in weaving it into apps, services or businesses ahead of a rollout as global digital money next year. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)
(FILES) In this file photo taken on May 1, 2018 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during the annual F8 summit at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. - Facebook is leaping into the world of cryptocurrency with its own digital money, designed to let people save, send or spend money as easily as firing off text messages."Libra" -- described as "a new global currency" -- was unveiled June 18, 2019 in a new initiative in payments for the world's biggest social network with the potential to bring crypto-money out of the shadows and into the mainstream. Facebook and an array of partners released a prototype of Libra as an open source code to be used by developers interested in weaving it into apps, services or businesses ahead of a rollout as global digital money next year. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)
Tom Holland
Opinion

Opinion

Abacus by Tom Holland

Why Facebook’s answer to bitcoin and WeChat Pay, libra, is doomed to fail

  • Mark Zuckerberg is hoping to take on Tencent’s WeChat Pay and thinks he has found a way around the problems faced by bitcoin
  • He hasn’t: consumers will have no incentive to use libra, governments have every reason to oppose it

Tom Holland
Tom Holland

Updated: 1:31pm, 11 Jul, 2019

Why you can trust SCMP
(FILES) In this file photo taken on May 1, 2018 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during the annual F8 summit at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. - Facebook is leaping into the world of cryptocurrency with its own digital money, designed to let people save, send or spend money as easily as firing off text messages."Libra" -- described as "a new global currency" -- was unveiled June 18, 2019 in a new initiative in payments for the world's biggest social network with the potential to bring crypto-money out of the shadows and into the mainstream. Facebook and an array of partners released a prototype of Libra as an open source code to be used by developers interested in weaving it into apps, services or businesses ahead of a rollout as global digital money next year. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)
(FILES) In this file photo taken on May 1, 2018 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during the annual F8 summit at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. - Facebook is leaping into the world of cryptocurrency with its own digital money, designed to let people save, send or spend money as easily as firing off text messages."Libra" -- described as "a new global currency" -- was unveiled June 18, 2019 in a new initiative in payments for the world's biggest social network with the potential to bring crypto-money out of the shadows and into the mainstream. Facebook and an array of partners released a prototype of Libra as an open source code to be used by developers interested in weaving it into apps, services or businesses ahead of a rollout as global digital money next year. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)
READ FULL ARTICLE