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Facebook plans cryptocurrency debut

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Re: Facebook plans cryptocurrency debut

#51

Post by hocuspocus »

mbrock wrote: post #33
CaptainZapp wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you transferred money across borders to an individual lately? Actually yes. From Switzerland to my brother in Belgium. It was transferred on the same business day at no expense to him or me. Look up SEPA[1] for details. Just because the American banking system is the complete shits this does not necessarily apply to the rest of the world. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area

Both the US and the eurozone are kind of single market currency unions where you would expect money transfers to be relatively convenient. As soon as you make a transfer outside of the EU you'll get hit by arbitrary and outrageous correspondent bank fees and delays. Payment services like TransferWise's "borderless accounts" get around this by pooling capital in various banks internationally, matching transfers agains…

SWIFT transfers aren't particularly slow or expensive these days. I use TransferWise but it's not cheaper in all cases.

Re: Facebook plans cryptocurrency debut

#52

Post by nabla9 »

A2017U1 wrote: post #13
wz1000 wrote: post #6

Can anyone explain what the point of a pegged cryptocurrency is? Since you are dependent on the issuing entity to honour the stated peg, why not just have your balance be an entry in a regular database maintained by that entity? What exactly does the blockchain gain you here? One thing it does _not_ get you is censorship resistance. If the central authority wants to take away coins from a wallet, all it needs to do i…

Have you transferred money across borders to an individual lately? As much as I want to criticize this FB is probably in an excellent position to navigate the kyc minefields.

What minefields?

Wetern Union, HiFX, PayPal, MoneyGram,Azimo work just fine.

Re: Facebook plans cryptocurrency debut

#54

Post by mbrock »

wz1000 wrote: post #50
mbrock wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed you could even think of them as embodying the "proof of work" principle in that you naturally look for the branch with the most work done to find the true Schelling point fork for your own contributions. (By the way, I often see these two points in the same thread: "blockchains should be replaced with centralized SQL databases" and "Git repositories are just like blockchains" which makes me wonder if Git repos…

> blockchains should be replaced with centralized SQL databases Blockchains whose tokens are subject to the authority of a central issuer anyway should be replaced with centralized SQL databases. Bitcoin/namecoin/etc. can't be replaced with centralized databases. FBCoin can, as can any blockchain that is supposed to track meatspace resources(since physical resources are subject to the authority of the local governmen…

The purpose of using a blockchain scheme to issue a centralized liability is probably to increase trust in the system due to the public verifiability of issuance and transfers.

Re: Facebook plans cryptocurrency debut

#55

Post by m-i-l »

To all the cryptocurrency devotees dreaming of a new world cryptocurrency displacing existing government-backed central banks - be careful what you wish for, it just might come true. This might be the next phase of surveillance capitalism, like Orwell except driven by a private corporation for profit rather than accountable governments for "the greater good".

Re: Facebook plans cryptocurrency debut

#56

Post by mbrock »

hocuspocus wrote: post #51
mbrock wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both the US and the eurozone are kind of single market currency unions where you would expect money transfers to be relatively convenient. As soon as you make a transfer outside of the EU you'll get hit by arbitrary and outrageous correspondent bank fees and delays. Payment services like TransferWise's "borderless accounts" get around this by pooling capital in various banks internationally, matching transfers agains…

SWIFT transfers aren't particularly slow or expensive these days. I use TransferWise but it's not cheaper in all cases.

It totally depends on the source and destination of the transfer. My girlfriend's small art house cinema recently transferred money to pay a filmmaker for festival participation and the correspondent bank fee was something like 60 euros on a 100 euro transfer.

Re: Facebook plans cryptocurrency debut

#57

Post by giaour »

From Facebook's perspective, the advantage is that everyone has already forfeited any expectation of privacy wrt financial transactions, since they're recorded on a public ledger. They would be able to link certain transaction events (i.e., ones that happen over Messenger or other Facebook properties) to real identities, so this project will give them tons of data to mine

Re: Facebook plans cryptocurrency debut

#58

Post by hocuspocus »

wcoenen wrote: post #47
CaptainZapp wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you transferred money across borders to an individual lately? Actually yes. From Switzerland to my brother in Belgium. It was transferred on the same business day at no expense to him or me. Look up SEPA[1] for details. Just because the American banking system is the complete shits this does not necessarily apply to the rest of the world. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area

SEPA is okay, but it's typically not "same business day". Just this week I initiated a transfer on Tuesday and it only arrived Thursday morning. This was between two Belgian accounts.

Your banks are slow. Many process SEPA transfers a lot faster than that, try N26 to Revolut if you're curious.

Also the SCT inst scheme has started being rolled out.

Re: Facebook plans cryptocurrency debut

#59

Post by callmeal »

alehul wrote: post #31
CaptainZapp wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you transferred money across borders to an individual lately? Actually yes. From Switzerland to my brother in Belgium. It was transferred on the same business day at no expense to him or me. Look up SEPA[1] for details. Just because the American banking system is the complete shits this does not necessarily apply to the rest of the world. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area

Across very cooperative borders in wealthy Europe, sure. Do you think it's as easy for those in India, China, or Kenya, for instance?

>Do you think it's as easy for those in India, China, or Kenya, for instance?

Actually yes. Take a look at xoom.com and it's competitors for example (flat rate money transfers at a fraction of swift fees). Only issue is getting money out of those countries. But that is a political and national issue.

Re: Facebook plans cryptocurrency debut

#60

Post by callmeal »

wz1000 wrote: post #17
A2017U1 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you transferred money across borders to an individual lately? As much as I want to criticize this FB is probably in an excellent position to navigate the kyc minefields.

My question was "what does blockchain bring to the table compared to a regular database?". How does using a blockchain/cryptocurrency make it easier to sidestep regulations compared to a regular old database?

>My question was "what does blockchain bring to the table compared to a regular database?".

You cannot compare blockchain with a regular database. A blockchain is more like an append-only store, or a WORM drive where each "file" or "record" is digitally authenticated and signed/hashed in a way to make undetectable modifications extremely difficult and/or expensive.

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