Aysioshechka from Zuckerberg - briefly and in the Libra case

The Libra project, announced on June 17, 2019, has already made noise in the press and even in big politics, but all the articles I have seen are full of slogans and predictions of a dark future, omitting technical details. In this article, I briefly describe what Facebook actually promises, how their tokens work and what the frequency of the blocks is.

Economic model:

• There is a Libra Investment Token, hereinafter LIT. Technical implementation is not specified and has nothing to do with the case.
• You can buy this very LIT for a minimum deposit of $ 10,000,000. The issue is not limited, the charter of the association directly mentions the release and sale of LIT in the future, after launching the project.
• LIT holders are charged all profits remaining after the costs of maintaining and developing the project - essentially a dividend.
• Libra is used as a unit of value. The price of Libra is announced to be tied to a basket of fiat currencies (via Forex), the basket has not yet been announced.
• Libra is created only in one way - by depositing fiat money into the issuer's account, which then issues the corresponding amount of Libra.
• The issuer invests the fiat money received in “short-term government bonds of states with a stable currency, a liquid market of government bonds and a high credit rating”. Interest on these bonds is officially the only source of profit for LIT holders.
• Help on the current economic situation: the relevant interest rate in China is 3%, US 2%, Australia 1%, UK 0.5%, Germany, Switzerland and Japan are negative.
• The issuer itself also acts as a buyer of last resort, in fact pledging to exchange Libra back for fiat money on demand.

From the above, we see that the more Libra is released, the greater the potential profit of the LIT holders.

Organizational model:

• Libra Association, registered in Geneva and with workers in San Francisco. Not directly related to Facebook. The charter of this company is described in some detail in the project documentation. Engaged in decision-making regarding the blockchain, the payment of dividends and public relations.
• LIT holders have the right to vote, but it is limited by a number of exotic rules (maximum 1% per representative, maximum 33% from non-profit organizations, etc.).
• Calibra is a Facebook subsidiary dealing with the implementation of the first wallet and other technical issues - including KYC and legal aspects in different countries.

Most of the charter is written in a strange language to confuse physical people voting in the Association, validator nodes voting for blocks, tokens holders and some Founding Members. There are points openly conflicting with the protection of minority shareholders.
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Technical details:

• A surprisingly technically conservative product, a kind of blockchain from 2015 without any frills. Testnet is already there, the client is free, run, I do not want. For people familiar with the ether in the project is not unusual.
• PoA based blockchain, everything is simple and without risk. From the known and closed group of validators, the leader is appointed who offers the block, the validators vote for the block by signing with the keys supplied by the off-chain. The same validators are sync nodes, archive nodes and generally the only full members of the network. Greetings from 2015
• The charter describes simple and clear criteria by which validators will be selected among those who wish. The minimum technical characteristics of the required iron are indicated: m5.24xlarge or half-rack if hosted independently.
• The initial number of validators: 100. Transaction finalization time: 10 seconds. Estimated throughput 1000 tps.
• Yes, with the time of the block, I certainly deceived you. Blocks in the system are present only in the context of the consensus protocol and are not visible at the data model level. The “block depth” role here is performed by the “database version”, which is nothing more than the number of finalized transactions. In practice, I don’t see a difference, such a model is also quite logical.
• There is the concept of gas, which is paid in Libra. The semantics are the same as on the air: gas price and gas limit, that is, Turing-complete smart contracts. Unlike ether, there is no separate concept “just a translation” - Libra translation is also an invocation of the corresponding smart contract.
• Briefly about smart contracts: they promise a new language Move, but for now you need to use the language Intermediate Representation (IR), which is very similar to (shock! Sensation!) Solidity. Deploy smart contracts to the database (state) users cannot, it can be done only by persons appointed by developers. A transaction is essentially a smart contract consisting of a single function that launches public functions of already secured smart contracts. On the one hand, of course, a closed ecosystem, on the other hand, simply and elegantly, and to some extent completely logical.
• There is a simple model by which non-validators communicate with the network. Everything works on the basis of queries - we send a request in a special language and get a validator's response. That is, no synchronization, no light clients, question-answer.

Other important details:

• Wallets and exchangers will be under KYC, but the blockchain itself is open and the client is available. KYC information is not in the blockchain itself, actions with which (judging by the testnet) can be carried out directly. Do you see the problem? I'll tell you: “Oh, my phone was hacked” and you get an anonymized Libra.
• The charter directly states that the closure of Fiat transfers at the issuer level is a valid way of choosing a fork. I appreciate the directness and uniqueness.
• All documentation is permeated with promises of transition to PoS, where Libra itself will be the key, but the plans are rather vague: “to begin the transition process five years after launch.”
• The technical documentation is written professionally, but in very simple terms - starting literally from what keys are, what are transactions, etc., is obviously intended for schoolchildren or students rather than as a benefit for bearded guys to integrate another token into the exchanger.

A source