101. Libra: Facebook's world domination

In today's episode, Simon and Sarah are joined by a host of brilliant guests and friends of the show, to talk about the latest and greatest news in blockchain, which this week largely involves Facebook! Today's guests include: Teana Baker-Taylor, GDF Executive director Anthony Macey, Director of Emerging Technology at Barclays First up we take a look at Facebook's big news! So, has Facebook just started the next generation payment network? Libra is a "low volatility" cryptocurrency and Facebook said they are mainly working on addressing two problems: banking the unbanked and transferring money globally. So, what does this mean for the cryptocurrency ecosystem? Is this going to propel virtual assets into the mainstream? (01:02) Next up, we talk about how Block.One launching a social media platform! The platform is called Voice, and is currently raising $150m to launch. So, social pursues crypto, and now crypto is pursuing social? Is this a trend we will see more of? The panel argues that whilst it is an interesting move into micropayments within a social media platforms, it remains to be seen whether it will be successful or not. (26:19) We also have a great Tweet of the Week from @mdm_z on Facebook’s new initiative name and how it's not working down under... (30:40) Before we leave you, we have another awesome interview, this time from the mainstage at Money20/20 where Simon was joined by Wei Zhou, CFO over at Binance! (31:46) All this and so much more on this week's episode of Blockchain Insider. And why not send us your best tweets? See if you can get a shout out on the show! ​ We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe! ​ Want to join the conversation on all the topics discussed? Tweet the show @bchaininsider and if you really love the show, please leave us a review on iTunes. ​ This week's episode of Blockchain Insider was produced by Laura Watkins and Petrit Berisha. Edited by Alex Woodhouse. Special Guests: Anthony Macey and Teana Baker-Taylor. Links: Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency, Libra, Gets Big Backers - WSJ Jack Dorsey, Twitter and Square CEO, Talks Up Company's Nascent Crypto Development Team | Crowdfund Insider Block.One Is Launching a Social Media Platform on the EOS Blockchain - CoinDesk