Why PayPal joined Libra - Dan Schulman - PayPal's CEO, answers
This blog post originally appeared on PayPal Stories. Below Dun Schulman's explanaition:
Today, the Libra Association announced plans for Libra, a new global currency based on blockchain technology that has the potential to empower millions of people. PayPal plans to join other leading technology and financial services companies to form the Libra Association. We believe in democratizing participation in the digital economy for people from all walks of life, and businesses of all sizes.
Like the Libra Association, PayPal has been working to use our platforms, knowledge and leadership to create better experiences for business and consumers through partnership. We have seen this approach deliver tremendous results – collaborating with banks, networks and technology companies that include Facebook, Visa, Mastercard and many others. This has resulted in more than 40 partnerships in the last 36 months, and includes numerous new product experiences, from offering consumers greater choice in terms of what payment method to use to working with issuers to allow consumers to use their reward points to pay for goods or services wherever PayPal is accepted. That’s why we believe in the potential of the Libra Association’s collaborative approach.
It’s still very early days on this journey, but we hope to enable developers and businesses to build inclusive and affordable financial service products for people across the economic spectrum. This ecosystem will be enhanced by the Libra Blockchain, a new blockchain that is being built from the ground up to prioritize scalability, security, and reliability, as well as the flexibility required to evolve over time. The Libra Reserve, a reserve of real assets that will back the Libra currency, providing enhanced stability, low inflation, wide global acceptance, and fungibility.
We believe that our more than 20 years of payments expertise can not only contribute value to the Libra Association, but it also gives us the opportunity to work with and learn from other leading organizations. We intend to explore unique and fully compliant financial services, that have the potential to create meaningful benefit for all people: not just for the affluent or elite, but for anyone that seeks to affordably and safely manage and move their money, and improve their financial health.
PayPal looks forward to joining the Libra Association on this ambitious journey. Our customers are always at the center of how we approach new challenges and opportunities – and we will always work to do what’s right for them.