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Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

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Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#731
post #567

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct. Libra coin is backed by Visa. The whole point of cryptocurrency to avoid having to go through middlemen like Visa or even require banks. This is a way for the intermediaries to cash in on the cryptocurrency hype and squash it before cryptocurrency payments become mainstream. They want to insert their own thing that looks like a cryptocurrency but will allow them to continue to profit from and control the exc…

>The whole point of cryptocurrency to avoid having to go through middlemen like Visa or even require banks. This is actually a big problem with cryptocurrencies - you're removing middlemen who are legally obligated to enforce anti-money-laundering laws on behalf of governments. In general, cryptocurrencies will either live under existential threat from government law enforcement agencies, or their use cases will be r…

This is why I doubt any major cryptocurrency advances will come from an established company. The risk of noncompliance for them is too great, but to have an effective cryptocurrency you have to build it resistant to outside control. It’s a catch-22 for the companies.

Why does a cryptocurrency have to be resistant to outside control? Because otherwise there’s no reason to use it, since the existing networks run by Visa or the US dollar are more efficient and scalable. The value of bitcoin is in its equalization, no one person on the network’s voice matters more than another.

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#732

I've lived in China and seen how this plays out. Facebook's new Libra Blockchain will be a centralized bank but way more dangerous. It will allow for a worldwide social credit system. If Facebook decides to remove you for wrong speak or wrong think, your money and many services will be inaccessible. Further, they have no mandate like the central bank does to increase employment. Their mandate is to make money for cor…

Libra isn't completely centralized. There's a long list of other corporations and institutions that will be validators. Facebook won't have 100% or even 10% control.

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#733
post #649
post #557

This is an interesting story and I would like to learn more about libra-coin. Unfortunately I think hackernews has a strong anti-facebook bias that is making the opinions here nearly universally one sided. I think we can say three things fairly uncontroversially in favor of this 1. The world could use an online independent currency 2. Adding stability to blockchain currencies and having that work on a large scale is…

> 1. The world could use an online independent currency Maybe, but "Facebook" and "independent" hardly go together. > Unlike government issued currencies, any monopoly or control facebook derives isn't done through force True, but the measure of control average person has over facebook is also close to zero. With government, you at least have courts, elections, Constitution finally... it is usually hard to go against…

> It could completely block you any time it wants to for any reason it wants to

As opposed to what banks did in Cyprus in 2013 when they seized the money on the savings account of their own customers and basically stopped people from withdrawing their money from their own bank accounts?

And said customers had no recourse at all against the banks helping themselves to their money?

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#734

I've lived in China and seen how this plays out. Facebook's new Libra Blockchain will be a centralized bank but way more dangerous. It will allow for a worldwide social credit system. If Facebook decides to remove you for wrong speak or wrong think, your money and many services will be inaccessible. Further, they have no mandate like the central bank does to increase employment. Their mandate is to make money for cor…

Libra isn't completely centralized. There's a long list of other corporations and institutions that will be validators. Facebook won't have 100% or even 10% control.

LOL.

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#735

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain why the ledger being run by ~27 different entities is NOT decentralized? How many governing entities (or validators; or people running blockchain servers) do you need before it qualifies as decentralized? I'm wondering about your definitions, not defending Facebook here.

In other contexts "split up between a group of folks" (that may be open to newcomers or not) is sometimes called "federated", while "everybody has (theoretically) a voice in the outcome" would be "decentralized". In bitcoin, everybody has a chance to voice their opinion on what the ledger should look like (nevermind how miniscule it is these days given warehouses full of ASIC miners). Libra has 27 designated peers, a…

And those ASIC miners serve a purpose, it becomes much harder for a state sponsored actor to develop more efficient mining technology to attack the network. And the miners who run the ASICS are the ones with the highest incentive to keep the network running strong.

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#736

I've lived in China and seen how this plays out. Facebook's new Libra Blockchain will be a centralized bank but way more dangerous. It will allow for a worldwide social credit system. If Facebook decides to remove you for wrong speak or wrong think, your money and many services will be inaccessible. Further, they have no mandate like the central bank does to increase employment. Their mandate is to make money for cor…

For this reason, unless the backers of this are powerful enough I see this being under intense scrutiny and possibly heavily regulated.

Fin system panicking? hah - Visa backs this. And no downside for FB if this fails (other than opportunity cost).

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#737

I've lived in China and seen how this plays out. Facebook's new Libra Blockchain will be a centralized bank but way more dangerous. It will allow for a worldwide social credit system. If Facebook decides to remove you for wrong speak or wrong think, your money and many services will be inaccessible. Further, they have no mandate like the central bank does to increase employment. Their mandate is to make money for cor…

This isn't the case, your wallet is not tied to your Facebook account.

Yeah not now, but given everything else they’ve done, it wouldn’t be a surprised if they introduced it as a feature later down the line.

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#738

I've lived in China and seen how this plays out. Facebook's new Libra Blockchain will be a centralized bank but way more dangerous. It will allow for a worldwide social credit system. If Facebook decides to remove you for wrong speak or wrong think, your money and many services will be inaccessible. Further, they have no mandate like the central bank does to increase employment. Their mandate is to make money for cor…

This isn't the case, your wallet is not tied to your Facebook account.

> your wallet is not tied to your Facebook account

Nice try, Mark!

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#740

I've lived in China and seen how this plays out. Facebook's new Libra Blockchain will be a centralized bank but way more dangerous. It will allow for a worldwide social credit system. If Facebook decides to remove you for wrong speak or wrong think, your money and many services will be inaccessible. Further, they have no mandate like the central bank does to increase employment. Their mandate is to make money for cor…

Libra isn't completely centralized. There's a long list of other corporations and institutions that will be validators. Facebook won't have 100% or even 10% control.

Ok, but you’ll admit it’s ideologically centralized, and that it’s facebook’s interests centralized.

Facebook launches Silicon Valley Bank and... people argue about the most minor technical details.

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