After the 2018 Bitcoin crash, no one really talked about Bitcoin or cryptocurrency for a while.

The discussion only came back into the game when Facebook announced that they were going to create their own cryptocurrency called Libra. Of all people, even the Federal Reserve Bank started getting involved with cryptocurrency then.

The reservation some might have for Libra

Mark Zuckerberg can pretty much monitor everything you do at the Internet these days, through Facebook. Now he wants to take it one step further by monitoring the way you spend your money with his cryptocurrency, Libra.

Libra might be the reason why cryptocurrency is finally being used by the masses. Facebook essentially wants Libra to be the next Paypal, by making it easier for you to spend money or send money. So if you want to buy something, or send money to your friends overseas, you wouldn’t have to worry about exchanges rates, high transaction fees, or waiting time, when you do it with Libra. The goal is very similar to that of other cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, except that other companies never really got behind Bitcoin.

Facebook can solve that problem because Facebook is a giant company, and it has the power to get other big companies behind their cryptocurrency too. But there is one big difference between Libra and other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Libra is not decentralized. It is actually the exact opposite!

Here is what that means..

Cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, were meant to be decentralized. This essentially means that Bitcoin was supposed to be managed and controlled by it users, that is, by regular people like you and me. Libra, on the other hand, will not be controlled by its users. It will be controlled by big corporations like Facebook, Visa, MasterCard and Uber.

If you want to be one of the big companies that control Libra, all you have to do is pay USD 10 million to Facebook’s Libra Association.

Wonder if Facebook is offering Libra loans? The big concern here is, do you trust Facebook to control your money? Some might think that Facebook is already watching everything they do, so they might as well give Facebook their wallet too. But others might not agree.

If you want to use Libra when it launches, you’ll probably have to download either Facebook, its Messenger app, Whatsapp, or the Libra app. That means Facebook will be watching you from all angles. This is really interesting for investors and companies, because this could change the game for advertising again.

Takeaway from Blockshow Asia 2019

At Blockshow Asia 2019, powered by Cointelegraph, Thomas Lee spoke about his stance on the cryptocurrency price trends observed in 2019. Thomas Lee is the Managing Partner and Head of Research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, an independent research advisory firm, primarily focused on institutional research business with over 150 clients in 16 different countries in the world.

According to Thomas, 2019 had a couple of phases for cryptocurrency. The first part of the year can best be described as dry powder. A lot of the original crypto investors who were liquidating their positions in 2018 put it back into USD, which is a huge amount of dry powder. He said that is what helped Bitcoin to get towards the high $9,000s.

Then we had what looked like a very good development of Facebook’s Libra which, if it was sustained, could really grow the adoption this year. But that did not happen as we began to see a set of setbacks, especially coming from the Whitehouse.

He said Bitcoin could have made all time highs by the end of this year, but it probably suffered too many regulatory setbacks in America. That’s why we are now back at the $8,000 level.

He quoted, “I think Libra is one of the most important projects for crypto because it’s really the roadmap to get America’s mainstream bitcoin adoption. One-third of all global wealth (100 trillion dollars of household wealth) is controlled by the US. Even though it’s a stable coin, we have to remember that the primary use of any stable coin is to speculate on the price of something else. So if Libra is successful, it’s going to be a massive win for crypto.”

He also suggested, “I think the mistake Libra or Facebook made was really not getting the buy-in from regulators and traditional financial industry. Anytime there’s an industry that’s highly regulated, whether it’s airlines, healthcare, financials or telecom, you need to involve the regulators at every step. That’s what banks are really good at. That’s why banks have a lot of democratic members of the financial services community. I don’t think Facebook played that game as well. But the game’s not over. They can make that investment and I think that’s the investment they need to make.”

Towards the end of his talk, he said something that gave massive happiness and hope to all the crypto enthusiasts:

“I believe Libra will be successfully launched, so I think it is obviously going to be a very big positive.”