Facebook’s Libra might not be as welcome as previously thought, reveals survey

The introduction of Facebook’s Libra and its corresponding whitepaper has hyped regulators left and right, with many in the U.S and E.U asking Facebook to withhold any and all development, until after the regulators had finished analyzing the effects of the digital coin. According to a recent survey conducted by Jefferies, a financial services company, Libra might not be widely accepted by the general public, reported The Block.

The survey taken by more than 600 people suggested that four in five people were either “unlikely” or “very unlikely” to buy the cryptocurrency. This might be due to concerns arising out of Facebook’s infamous history with privacy and user data. Moreover, survey respondents suggested that 45% of the respondents lacked trust in Facebook. The respondents further added that they already had a mobile payment wallet that supported cryptocurrencies and that there wasn’t any need for Libra.

The report by Jefferies further added,

“Effectively, without substantial network effects, we do not expect Libra to replace existing forms of cashless payments—at least not in the near term.”

The report also revealed that users who were interested in Libra for future use, were split into two factions. The first, 12% of the sampled respondents, said that they would use it for goods and/or services, while the other faction, 14% of the respondents said that they would use it to send funds to friends and family. 15% of the respondents agreed on both.

TechCrunch Co-founder, Michael Arrington, opined about Libra too, based on a development which said that Libra Network had been registered in Geneva. However, the registration itself raised serious questions about Libra’s centralization. In a tweet, Arrington said,

“As far as I can tell none of the Libra partners have signed anything beyond a LOI and none have paid the $10m. Will be interesting to see how this plays out as governments sharpen their knives.”