The technology is there, the kizungumkuti is going to be Government regulation. A global Mpesa system will not seat comfortably with many banks and local Safaricom's all over the world.

I think what Governments will do is adopt the Chinese model of bureaucracy in banking. Contrary to popular belief a foreigner can actually open a bank in China... you only have to follow a few rules. One you apply for a licence to register the bank... this takes a couple of months.. once you get the licence then you apply for another licence to accept deposits.... you need the first licence before you can apply for the second.... this takes another couple of months to process.......then you apply for another licence to allow withdrawal.... you need the first 2 licences before you can apply for this one... this takes a couple of months...... Now all this is only to have a physical bank... if you want your bank to have a website you need to apply for another licence....... another few months...... then if you want to have people do any kind of transactions on the website you need another licence....... etc etc. They also make it more complicated by having all these licences issued by different institutions so you have to deal with different people every time. I was listening to a presentation by an executive of an American Bank that has been in China for 10 years and they are still applying for some licences.

People forget that the reason Mpesa took off in Kenya so fast was not so much because of the Technology but because the then CBK governor Prof. Ndung'u and then acting Finance Minister John Michuki bought into the idea and allowed it be established.

Michael Joseph tried to replicate Mpesa for Vodafone across the world with limited success and he found out that the biggest hurdle was Government regulation.

Bulls-eye!

I don't know about any other company, but for KQ am with him all the way. KQ yawa, please. Don't spoil this thread.

Does this mean I will start getting random requests for contributions to "donate" to someone's wedding or funeral?
Currently, I can happily (mostly) ignore them.

Agreed. Zuck says libra is targeted at the 1B users in developing world without bank accounts. He is assuming that the governments of India, China, Latin America will freely cede their sovereign currency if favour of a currency not recognized by Uncle Sam and Euro zone.

If libra will be readily convertable with dollar and euro, it will be taken up easily. If not, it will turn out as currency for black market deals and failed states.