Libra activates “technical steering committee” to oversee digital currency

The forces behind the Libra digital currency have inaugurated a “steering committee” of five members, whose role will be to oversee the project’s technical development. 

Announced on Thursday, the responsibilities of the Technical Steering Committee will include “directing the technical roadmap for the Libra network,” “forming Technical Working Groups to fast-track research into selected specific issues, “guiding codebase development,” and “building a healthy and engaged Libra developer community.” 

Sitting on the committee will be Diogo Monica, co-founder and president at Anchorage; George Cabrera III, Libra’s core product lead at Facebook’s digital wallet subsidiary Calibra; Joe Lallouz, CEO and Founder at Bison Trails; Nick Grossman, a partner at Union Square Ventures; and Ric Shreves, the director of emerging technology at Mercy Corps. 

Libra ploughs on despite immense regulatory scrutiny from lawmakers worldwide, many of whom have voiced concerns that the Facebook-led digital currency, whose development is governed by the 21-member-strong Libra Association, could risk undermining the global financial system. 

Late last year a contrite Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, even appeared before Congress to discuss the project, appearing to imply that Libra would be halted if regulators ultimately didn’t approve it. 

The project has also drawn criticism from blockchain enthusiasts for its approach to privacy and decentralization. Whereas Bitcoin is governed by a vast network of nodes that are, in principle, “permissionless” and can be set up by anyone, the Libra Association consists of a multitude of private firms, many from Silicon Valley. 

Bison Trails is one of the few companies from the blockchain sphere to have taken up the Libra mantle, and could, feasibly, provide some much-needed insight. 

Speaking to Decrypt, Bison Trails’s Lallouz said he had landed the role by popular vote. He also emphasized that, in order to have any chance of success, the project would need to overcome the “permissionless” problem and be “decentralized, secure, and well-orchestrated, with the infrastructure in place to support billions of transactions.”