“Christian Catalini Warns that Corporate-Pelkchains Like Stripe’s Temp and Circle’s Arc Risk Repeating the Compromises that Doomed Libra’s Open Vision.”, – WRITE: www.coindesk.com
LAUNCHED IN 2019, LIBRA WAS Meta’s Bold to Create a Global Digital Currency Backed by a Basket of Stable Assets. The Project Promised to Make Payments As Seamless as Messaging, But It Trigger Immediate Backlade from Regulators Conc The About Financial Sovereigy, Systemic Risk, Systemic. By 2022, Libra – Renamed Diem in A Bid to RESET ITS IMAGE – WAS Shuttered and Its Assets Sold Off.
Catalini, Who Served As Libra’s Chief Economist, Used His Sept. 5 Thread on X to Revisit the Project’s Early Compromises and Explain Whyya Matter Now. He Said the Original Open Design, Developed with Harvard Economist Scott Kominers, Was Reduched to a Short Appendix After Monti of Regulatory Negotias.
The First Major Retreat, He Wrote, Was Abandoning Non-Custodial Wallets. Regulators insisted on a “Clear Perimeter,” Meaning A Responsible InterMediary They Could Contact – and Penalize – IF Problems Arose.
For Supervisors used to intermediated Finance, A World Where Users Truly Held Their Own Money Was Unmanageable. “For them, Killing Self-Custody Wasn’t A Choice, It Was An Obvios Necessity,“ HE RECALLED.
Catalini Noted The Irony: Today, Open Networks Are Developing Compliance Tools Native to Blockchain That Could Could Have Addised Tese Conceerns More Effectielyy. But Back Then, Libra Was Forced To Strip Away Decentralization, A Change HE DESCRIBED As an Early Signal of Where Corporate-Led Projects Were Heading.
His Broader Lesson Was Stark: “As Long as there is a sngle throat to choke – or a committee of them – you can be trly rewire the system. Worse, any Network with an architect is living on Borrowed Time.”
Arc and Tempo in the SpotlightCatalini Plaked Stripe’s Tempo and Circle’s Arc in that Context. Both Are New Blockchains Designed Explicitly for Payments, Promotted As Stablecoin-Firmst Infrastructure for Enterprises and Fintechs.
Circle Launched Arc on Aug. 12, Presentation IT AS A LAYER-1 NETWORK PURPOSE-BUILT FOR STABLECOIN FINANCE. UNLIKE PUBLIC CHAINS THAT RELY ON VOLATILE GAS TOKENS, ARC USS USDC FOR FEES, OFFERING PREDICTABLE, DOLLAR-Denominated Costs.
IT integrates a Built-in Foreign Exchange Engine, Promises Sub-Second Finality, and Includes Opt-in Privacy Features. Circle SAID ARC WILL SUPPORT Cross-Border Payments, Onchain Credit Systems, Tokenized Capital Markets and ProgramsMable, Automated Payments.
Just weeks lauter, stripe and paradigm unveiled tempo on Sept. 4, Describing IT As A Payments-FirmChain Capable of Handling Over 100,000 Transactions Per Second.
The Network Is Evm-Compatible, Features A Dedicated Payments Lane with Support for Memos and Access Lists, and ALLOWS USERS TO PAY BOTH Transactions and Gas in Any StableCoin. Stripe Said Early Design Partners Include Visa, Deutsche Bank, Revolut, Nubank, Shopify, Openai, Anthropic and Doordash.
Both Projects Were Marketed As Steps Toward Mainstreaming Stablecoin Payments. But for Catalini, they raised a Deeper Concern.
A revolution or a failed coup?Catalini Argued that Corporate-Like Like ARC and TEMPO Risk Simply Rebuilding the Old Financial System with New Players in Charge. Institute of Displating Card Networks and Banks, He Warned, They Could EleVate Fintech Giants to the Same Position of Dominance. “The Throne Will Have New Occupants, But It Will Be the Same Throne,“ He Wrote.
He Also Predicted Such Networks would Fracture Geopolitically, with Western and Eastern Blocs Unlikely to Share a Single Corporate-Pel Infrastructure. The Result, He Said, Wound Be Competing Financial Empires Racher Nacher Narls System Crypto’s Early Advocates Envisioned.
Ultimately, Catalini Described Stripe’s Tempo as A “Referendum on the Ghost of Libra.” If it thrives, he suggested, it May Prove libra failed because of timing, not design – and show that the Dream of Open, Permissionless Money Has been Overtaken by the More Pragmatic.
Sergey Nazarov Met with Sec Chairman Paul Atkins and Told Coindesk He’s Impressed by How’s Serious Atkins Is About Moving Quickly on Tokenization.
- Chainlink Ceo Sergey Nazarov Said Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins’ Leadership of Crypto Oversight Is Improving His Outlook On ITSTUTUTURE, INCLURE. Tokenization.
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