David Marcus has written a post intended to give “clarity” to the critics of Libra, the blockchain network Facebook is trying to seed.

First, to those who say the system is not really decentralized: “We totally get the point,” Marcus wrote in the July 3 post. “But it was important to start with trusted entities that could operate in a regulated environment and with the operational expertise required to ensure the integrity of the network in its foundational stage.”

He reiterated that “we’re committed to gradually transitioning to a permissionless state in the years to come,” and added that in the meantime, “I’d argue that one hundred geographically distributed, industry-diverse organizations is quite decentralized.” ( There are only 28 so far, however.)