Facebook Libra - An Unthinkable Coup d’Etat

This is the post fuelled by Wardley Mapping, albeit without maps in it. Readers should recognise:

• analysis of the output delivered to end users
• the scale matching the maturity of the service
• power plays happening between different stakeholders (this is very often neglected in regular exercises).

I am very curious to hear what you think about it! Maps are, of course, welcome!

Love the article!

I like to think about the cryptocurrency behind Libra as a masterful feint: they seemingly give up control over the network, but as pointed out in the article, they gain many things:

• trust and goodwill from consumers
• support from partners in the public discourse (OG crypto VCs Albert Wenger and Fred Wilson supporting Libra is huge)
• improved lobbying both in terms of total spendable amount and access (eg. dodging a ban in France would be much easier if Vivendi was a partner)
• avoiding many compliance headaches

Yet they don’t give up as much control as it seems: power over the network and gains from its adoption will reside with those who control consumer access to it, and Facebook is in the best position to become the largest funnel to Libra (Ben Thompson’s aggregation theory is useful here).