By
Tolu Ajiboye
April 23rd, 2024
While a majority of investors said that they aren’t interested in Libra (with many preferring Bitcoin instead), some also said that unlike the decentralized cryptocurrencies, Libra doesn’t give them the financial freedom from governments.
Ever since its official announcement last month, Facebook’s Libra Project is going through a rough phase. Several regulators and lawmakers cast serious doubts on the company’s ability to pull such a massive project. Moreover, Facebook’s inefficiency to secure user data has hurt the company’s reputation badly.
In a recent poll survey conducted by CivicScience, a majority of the people said that they have more trust in Bitcoin than on Libra. A total of 1799 U.S. adults participated in the poll, which is, of course, a very small number. However, the voting pattern clearly represents that Facebook’s Libra project doesn’t excite the investors.
Bitcoin vs Libra
As can be seen from the survey’s results, only two percent of the total voters explicitly state that they have a higher trust in Libra over public cryptocurrencies. Also, 19% of people said that they trust both the options equally.
Nearly 40% of respondents said they trust public cryptocurrencies more. While 35% of the people explicitly mention having less trust in Libra over Bitcoin.
When the respondents were asked about their interest in Facebook Libra, a whopping 86% denied having any interest in it. Only 10% said that they were unsure of this project. This clearly shows that Facebook has an uphill task to convince not only the lawmakers but also retail investors to join its Libra ecosystem.
The 5% of the people who said that they were “very interested” in the Libra project belonged to the 18-24-year-old age group. When asked about if they trust Facebook for handling their money, 77% of respondents gave a big NO!
The lack of trust in Libra is the reflection of Facebook’s poor track record of dealing with user privacy. Last year’s Cambridge Analytica Scandal, Facebook took a massive hit after it was found that private data from its platform was compromised to influence voting patterns in other countries. In a recent development, the US consumer regulator, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has asked Facebook to pay a whopping $5 billion in penalty.
According to the CivicScience report, only 18 percent of respondents in the age group 25-29 showed interest in Libra. In its official report, CivicScience writes:
“Similar to when Bitcoin first mysteriously surfaced ten years ago and brought with it the cryptocurrency gold rush, no one really knows what to expect when some of the largest corporations in the world collaborate to create their own version. Regardless, it’s definitely an exciting trend to watch unfold.”
Bitcoin – a Long Term Investment
In its survey, CivicScience found that cryptocurrency enthusiasts majorly see it as a long-term investment tool. On the other hand, Libra is not an investment but just a payment system.
Moreover, some of the respondents also stated that the major reason to invest in decentralized cryptocurrencies is to have freedom from the governments. Libra, on the other hand, has pledged to be completely driven within the ambit of the regulators.
It was just last week that U.S. Senators raised strong questions to Facebook’s David Marcus, one who is leading the Libra project. It looks like Facebook has a lot to answer before it brings its cryptocurrency to the market.