Binance report: Libra could be a game-changer in the payments industry

A new report from Binance Research says that Facebook’s Libra could be a game-changer in the payments industry. In June 2019, the social media giant announced its plans to launch Libra, a digital currency that will be monitored by the Libra Association, a Swiss-based consortium of independent members. 

Libra has been hindered by regulatory issues and has been criticized by many. The new report, however, compared Libra to Elon Musk’s spaceflight company. Musk also faced high-entry obstacles during his initial venture, but SpaceX offered innovative and cost-saving technologies that later changed space travel. Libra promises to transform the payment industry similarly by addressing the limitations of central banks.

An excerpt from the report reads:

It is important to note that there are very few payment systems, and most of them are operated by a central bank and of only regional scope. Libra could thus do to payment systems, what SpaceX did to the space industry … shake the foundations of a well-established sector with high entry barriers. The mere advantage of issuing widely-available programmable money would already initiate manifold efficiency gains.

According to Cointelegraph, a Binance Research representative said that while new online money transfer services likeTransferwise have offered some payment innovations, they cannot offer everything that Libra can.

If Libra was to launch it would be Transferwise on steroids that caters to a large retail and business audience and could thus start a new wave of innovation and fundamentally change the current payments landscape.

Libra can impact financial inclusion if it opens access to third parties and adopts a user-friendly interface, according to the report.