1
Cover Letter
White Paper v2.0 From the Libra Association Members
Note to readers: The first Libra Association white paper was pub lished in June 2019. This new Association white
paper, published in April 2020, is intended to be a stand-alone update regarding the plans of the Association.
Additionally, supporting technical papers also published in June 2019 have been edited or retired.
The Libra Association’s mission is to enable a simple global payment system and financial infrastructure
that empowers billions of people. The Association’s first step toward creating a more inclusive and innovative
financial system began in June 2019 with the announcement of the project. Our goal was to establish a
collaborative dialogue early in the journey. We have worked with regulators, central bankers, elected officials,
and various stakeholders around the world to determine the best way to marry blockchain technology
with accepted regulatory frameworks. Our objective is for the Libra payment system to integrate smoothly
with local monetary and macroprudential policies and complement existing currencies by enabling new
functionality, drastically reducing costs, and fostering financial inclusion.
The Association has made changes to its initial approach, many of which depart from the approaches
taken by other blockchain projects. The Association’s goal was never to emulate other systems, but rather
to leverage the innovative approach of using distributed governance through Association Members and
distributed technology to create an open and trustworthy system. By undertaking the difficult work of
enhancing traditional financial systems to become programmable, interoperable, and upgradeable, we hope
to allow others to leverage our efforts to build innovative but also safe and compliant financial applications
that can serve everyone. We appreciate the discussions with policymakers around the world who have helped
us understand key concerns so that we can integrate actionable improvements into the Libra payment
system’s design and into a phased rollout plan.
This updated white paper outlines the significant work we have done on the design of the Libra payment
system since June 2019. Four key changes have been made to address regulatory concerns that deserve
specific attention, each of which is addressed briefly below and then in mor e depth in the updated
white paper:
1. Offering single-currency stablecoins in addition to the multi-currency coin.
2. Enhancing the safety of the Libra payment system with a robust compliance framework.
3. Forgoing the future transition to a permissionless system while maintaining its key
economic properties.
4. Building strong protections into the design of the Libra Reserve.
1 / 29
