“Hell No”: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Confirms He’ll Never Join Facebook’s Libra Project
Jack Dorsey, CEO of two multi-billion dollar companies, microblogging network Twitter and payments technology firm Square, has said that Twitter will never join the Facebook-led Libra stablecoin project.
On October 24, a Twitter thread by Hollywood Reporter editor Alex Weprin, who was attending an event held at Twitter’s New York location, revealed that Dorsey wants his company to stay far away from Facebook’s cryptocurrency-related initiative Libra, which is scheduled to launch at some point next year.
Hell No, We’re Not Joining Libra
Would Twitter join the Libra project? "Hell no," Jack Dorsey says. "Nothing within Libra had to be a cryptocurrency to do what they wanted to do."
— Alex Weprin (@alexweprin) October 24, 2019
Responding to a question about whether Twitter would consider becoming a part of the Libra project, Dorsey reportedly said: “Hell no.”
He added:
“Nothing within Libra had to be a cryptocurrency to do what they wanted to do.”
Commenting on Mark Zuckerberg’s recent speech at Georgetown University, Dorsey noted that most of the Facebook CEO’s statements appeared to be based in American tradition. His speech focused on various social issues including topics related to freedom of speech, censorship and the evolving role of leading technology platforms on democracy.
Zuckerberg’s speech also seemed to criticize China’s recent efforts related d to digital currency and, in general, technology development.
Dorsey remarked:
”I fear that if we base too much in this one concept, we take away the ability to experiment and expand. We are not just serving an American audience, we are serving a global audience. The internet is somewhat of an emerging nation-state.”
Last month, Dorsey said that he was not interested in launching a project similar to Facebook’s Libra, clarifying that he was not planning to introduce a Twitter-based cryptocurrency. Dorsey stated that he is planning to continue supporting open, permissionless, and decentralized digital currency protocols, such as Bitcoin (BTC).
He noted:
“I think [Bitcoin’s] the best bet because it’s been the most resilient, it’s around for 10 years, it has a great brand, and it’s been tested a bunch. As I look at all cryptocurrencies that could fill that role of being the native currency for the internet, [Bitcoin is] a pretty high probability.”
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