Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency Gets Big Backers • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency Gets Big Backers

#111

Post by colechristensen » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 9:18 AM UTC

raquo wrote: post #68

Why does this centralized stablecoin need to be crypto? It's not like they need to raise funding for this. They could have made their own boring but extremely well positioned WePay / Paypal alternative ages ago, and instead they waited until cryptocurrencies are past peak hype to launch this. Puzzling. I guess the only thing they have to sell here is the privacy aspect of crypto, but I doubt you'll get effective priv…

Yes. The biggest fans of Bitcoin have been all about the privacy and freedom of the coin but unless you have perpetually perfect opsec what actually happens is total information awareness. Everybody knows what everybody else is doing.

Re: Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency Gets Big Backers

#112

Post by colechristensen » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 9:24 AM UTC

ChainOfFools wrote: post #28

superkuh wrote: post #17

Is it really a cryptocurrency when it's completely centralized? No. This is just Facebook-bucks. Store dollars. It's has absolutely none of the benefits of a real cryptocurrency.

there seems to be a desire, arising from confusion and encouraged by opportunism, to conflate the term cryptocurrency with conventional notions of electronic cash. I've listened to people from the world bank, the IDB and at least one representative of a central bank explain to me with enthusiasm how their pet crypto and blockchain projects were creating new opportunities for their organizations. There's always some c…

At that point and in so many circumstances the crypto part is ultimately just a different kind of database. Databases and protocols are just boring... At least from the perspective of the person using the currency.

In general, who cares how Chase keeps track of my checking account? It might have this feature or that feature but when it is being used as it is there isn't much to be excited about. If you're Chase it might make life a little easier to choose one thing or the other but the rest of the world probably doesn't care.

Re: Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency Gets Big Backers

#113

Post by icebraining » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 9:30 AM UTC

askmike wrote: post #93

icebraining wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they're talking about the blockchain working by a single global (hence, "central") consensus. It seems Holo avoids that somehow.

That's not what anyone in the space calls centralized. It's actually called "decentralized" by everyone because the way this consensus is kept and changed happens decentralized (to some degree). Right now it seems: If you don't have central consensus you can't have digital currency. Since everybody needs to be on the same line regards to who owns what. This is different from cash in the current world. Where nobody ne…

I agree that "global" would be a better word than "central", but that doesn't really affect treelovinhippie's point.

> If you don't have central consensus you can't have digital currency.

From what I can tell, the Holochain developers agree with this: you can't have a single global currency without global consensus. Their approach seems to be: rather than having a single global currency, have a network of IOUs, trusted and enforced locally: https://medium.com/holochain/beyond-blockchain-simple-scalab...

Personally, I have no opinion on their approach, other than welcoming experiments, since that's what I find interesting in Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto space (and frankly wish it hadn't passed that stage yet).

Re: Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency Gets Big Backers

#114

Post by pjc50 » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 9:37 AM UTC

runeks wrote: post #102

> It has been a decade since bitcoin was born, yet consumers hardly use it—or the hundreds of other cryptocurrencies—to pay for things. And why would they? Adding two extra steps to paying someone -- the buyer converting local currency to bitcoin, and then the seller converting bitcoin to local currency -- can never compete with just transferring local currency directly. Cryptocurrency was meant to be much more than…

Arguably there already is a global dollar-denominated credit market, it's just highly intermediated. And the risk history of p2p credit shows why the intermediaries are useful.

> in order to earn a low-risk return on their money

How does the economics of this work - you're claiming lower risk and higher return, but cryptocurrency does nothing to help with default risk?

Re: Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency Gets Big Backers

#115

Post by pjc50 » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 9:38 AM UTC

superkuh wrote: post #17

Is it really a cryptocurrency when it's completely centralized? No. This is just Facebook-bucks. Store dollars. It's has absolutely none of the benefits of a real cryptocurrency.

> Facebook-bucks

Missed opportunity to call them "Marks", although maybe only German speakers will get the joke.

Re: Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency Gets Big Backers

#116

Post by jhabdas » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 9:39 AM UTC

colechristensen wrote: post #112

ChainOfFools wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there seems to be a desire, arising from confusion and encouraged by opportunism, to conflate the term cryptocurrency with conventional notions of electronic cash. I've listened to people from the world bank, the IDB and at least one representative of a central bank explain to me with enthusiasm how their pet crypto and blockchain projects were creating new opportunities for their organizations. There's always some c…

At that point and in so many circumstances the crypto part is ultimately just a different kind of database. Databases and protocols are just boring... At least from the perspective of the person using the currency. In general, who cares how Chase keeps track of my checking account? It might have this feature or that feature but when it is being used as it is there isn't much to be excited about. If you're Chase it mi…

Who cares? You should. Bitcoin offers a public audit trail less commonly known as triple-entry bookkeeping or momentum accounting. Chase still uses double entry.

What's more Chase charges $25 per month to keep an open checking account, keeps only a small portion of your funds on hand and may both lock you out of your account and freeze your funds on a whim whereas Bitcoin won't.

Re: Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency Gets Big Backers

#117

Post by divbyzer0 » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 9:42 AM UTC

superkuh wrote: post #17

Is it really a cryptocurrency when it's completely centralized? No. This is just Facebook-bucks. Store dollars. It's has absolutely none of the benefits of a real cryptocurrency.

This smells of identity verification. They offer a payment mechanism which needs to be legally compliant.

Bingo! Social credit system with verified ID.

The crypto part is just to make sound hip.

Re: Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency Gets Big Backers

#118

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 9:47 AM UTC

AlexCoventry wrote: post #22

superkuh wrote: post #17

Is it really a cryptocurrency when it's completely centralized? No. This is just Facebook-bucks. Store dollars. It's has absolutely none of the benefits of a real cryptocurrency.

Is the ledger public and irrepudiable, at least? That'd be something,I guess.

[deleted]

Re: Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency Gets Big Backers

#119

Post by max76 » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 9:48 AM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #115

superkuh wrote: post #17

Is it really a cryptocurrency when it's completely centralized? No. This is just Facebook-bucks. Store dollars. It's has absolutely none of the benefits of a real cryptocurrency.

> Facebook-bucks Missed opportunity to call them "Marks", although maybe only German speakers will get the joke.

Is this a joke about fiat currencies and their tendency to suddenly become valueless and cryptocurrencies tendency to suddenly become valueless by making a cross language pun connecting the owner of a new cryptocurrency and the name of a currency most famously known for a hyperinflation.

Re: Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency Gets Big Backers

#120

Post by orbifold » Fri, Jun 14, 2019, 9:51 AM UTC

askmike wrote: post #93

icebraining wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they're talking about the blockchain working by a single global (hence, "central") consensus. It seems Holo avoids that somehow.

That's not what anyone in the space calls centralized. It's actually called "decentralized" by everyone because the way this consensus is kept and changed happens decentralized (to some degree). Right now it seems: If you don't have central consensus you can't have digital currency. Since everybody needs to be on the same line regards to who owns what. This is different from cash in the current world. Where nobody ne…

They are calling it decentralised but it really isn't. Transactions with physical cash are fully decentralised, anonymous (save for finger prints etc.) and asynchronous. In terms of convenience credit cards, apple pay and PayPal are hard to beat. I do not know of a single use case for consumer facing crypto currencies that is compelling to me.