[liminal18]

yes, their whitepaper heavily suggests that access to finance products for the poor is a big motivation behind Libra. However, it does feel a bit like white washing as the majority of the profits from Libra will obviously be the convenience of paying via facebook owned messengers etc.

[TheSpiceIsLife]

The poor, even in developed countries, aren’t well served by the incumbents.

Visa and MasterCard are collaborating on the Libra protect.

For those two reasons I don’t know if it makes sense to say Libra is competing with the incumbents.

[marcus_holmes]

The problem with Visa and Mastercard in the developing countries I've experienced is the banking system.

In Cambodia, you can only get a credit card from a Cambodian bank if you have a deposit with them that matches your credit limit (i.e. to get a card with a $5K limit, you need to maintain a balance of $5K in your account).

Most people cannot get credit/debit cards because the banks won't issue them, because they don't trust anyone and won't take the risk involved in issuing cards

I can see how Libra will solve a lot of frustrations for Visa/Mastercard working in poorer countries

[TheSpiceIsLife]

What risk is there in issuing debit cards? Other than the obvious fraud potential, but that usually doesn’t originate with the card holder.

[marcus_holmes]

to be honest, I'm not sure. They issued me one when I asked for it, but I had to ask, it wasn't normal. And often when I use it, I get a Whatsapp call from a nervous bank staff member checking that it was me that used it. Kind of cute really.

[TheSpiceIsLife]

Yeah right. Where do you live? Here in Australia Visa / Mastercard debit cards are very common.

[marcus_holmes]

This is Cambodia I'm talking about.I don't live there any more, but I still use the bank account I set up when I did