A Monumental Fight Over Facebook's Cryptocurrency Is Coming

Given how slowly Washington lawmakers have taken to devise a coherent, informed view of cryptocurrency, the Chair of the House Financial Services Committee's rapid leap to action last week over Facebook's ambitious Libra project was remarkably fast.

Let's reflect not on the details of Rep. Maxine Waters' urgent requests that Facebook to cease work on Libra.

Unlike with bitcoin, representative in Congress can directly identify and talk to the people in charge of the Libra project.

Let's be clear: Libra's designers have thought deeply about how to protect their project from Facebook itself, both in a real sense and that of public perception.

There is a structure and roadmap in place for Libra to grow and survive regardless of its genesis as a Facebook project.

The Libra protocol's all-important source code is now open-sourced, but it was conceived and gestated inside Facebook.

Whether the project managers and programmers resist or not, the culture of that organization will inherently feed into Libra's design priorities.

Over time, as the project grows, Libra hopes to expand the consortium.

The bigger risk is not that Libra succeeds and enriches Mark Zuckerberg even more but that neither Libra nor one of its crypto competitors ever succeeds in breaking down the barriers to economic participation.

Thats' not what Libra intends, but the perception that it is undermining nation states' sovereignty over money could stoke fears and lead to a ban on Libra.