Friction is defined simply as resistance to relative motion, a word in current times synonymous with innovation, replacing aged processes or introducing new ways of work. This week, technology juggernaut Facebook, equally loved and loathed, unveiled Libra - a simple global currency and financial infrastructure; an ambitious plan to remove friction from value movement, hoping to bring more affordable, seamless, intuitive and secure user experiences to peer-peer, retail and cross-border exchanges. Purists are falling over themselves trying to make a case for the nonstarter nature of the project citing the ease with which anyone can seed their own non-conformist ledger and hype it.
Some things require a certain scale for markets to entertain the possibility of success. Facebook is smart in the way it has positioned Libra as a hopeful to the title of global currency. The utility of a service is at its core, and in a scenario such as this, users would first ask, where this medium is accepted, how they can access, trade, exchange and consume it.
