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Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

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Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#981

Post by bufferoverflow »

joeyspn wrote: post #519
bufferoverflow wrote: post #490

What I really don't get is the regulatory aspect. They are creating a financial derivative asset/instrument. To be moved across the borders. In what freaking universe will the regulators not be all over it with endless KYC/ML rules?

Not "endless", but chances are they'll simply apply "standard" money transmitter rules... and yes, that includes KYC/AML

Have you ever bought/sold stocks or futures? The amount of paperwork you have to provide and to sign is not trivial. And then you're still quite limited in what you can do.

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#982

Post by bufferoverflow »

bilbo0s wrote: post #512
bufferoverflow wrote: post #490

What I really don't get is the regulatory aspect. They are creating a financial derivative asset/instrument. To be moved across the borders. In what freaking universe will the regulators not be all over it with endless KYC/ML rules?

You assume government regulators and policy makers were not in on it from the start.

Looks like they were not.

https://www.coindesk.com/halt-libra-us-lawmakers-call-for-he...

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#983

Post by rafiki6 »

mekoka wrote: post #853

Let's play a game of predictions. Regardless of HN's opinion of Facebook (and regardless of my own for that matter) I predict that this thing will work. This is only one thing my crystal ball showed me. Facebook's presence in developing economies is massive. To the point of being synonymous with "The Internet" in a number of places. But they've had a nagging problem. People in these economies consume contents, but do…

FB is going up against governments. I'm not sure they will win. Currency is one of a few key tools a government needs to control it's economy in many different ways. What I am loving about this though is that all of these experiments are forcing us to have a discussion about what a currency is and maybe even redefine money. Bitcoin didn't quite succeed in the way the creator imagined (at least what "he" publicly said was "his" goal). But it has succeeded as competitor to precious metals, and really made markets think about what a cryptocurrency means. Maybe this FB currency will eventually force us to have the hard conversation about what an electronic world wide currency truly means in practice and that's good.

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#984

Post by nradov »

0x445442 wrote: post #964
hjk05 wrote: post #928

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yes, the plan to jail those who hold cryptocurrency in a democratic country is preposterous No it isn’t. We jail people who hold child pornography in democratic countries as well. The core of a democratic country is that it’s governed by democratically elected representatives, not that it’s citizens be allowed access to whatever they want independent of criminal consequences. I get you and others are calling to the…

> you aren’t free to print you own paper currency As far as I know, in the U.S. you are free to print your own paper currency, just so long as it doesn't conterfeit that which is produced by the Federal Reserve Bank. Also, there's nothing illegal about conducting transactions with it either, provided you can find willing trade partners.

Right this is totally legal provided you report any income obtained through such a scheme on your tax return in fair market US dollar terms. It's no different than bartering (which is also legal).

The other caveat is that if someone owes you a debt you can't require them to pay in your own "funny money" currency. You have to accept US dollars if offered, otherwise the debt won't be legally enforceable.

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#985

Post by kebman »

Looks like this is yet another centrally controllable currency to woo the masses away from Bitcoin, not unlike Ripple's XRP. Or am I mistaken? It's probably a great vessel for speculation, though, since Facebook is a serious company, and because it will obviously be polished and work well. As a vessel for storing and moving value, however, I think I'll stick to BTC.

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#986

Post by mr_toad »

deafcalculus wrote: post #951
mekoka wrote: post #853

Let's play a game of predictions. Regardless of HN's opinion of Facebook (and regardless of my own for that matter) I predict that this thing will work. This is only one thing my crystal ball showed me. Facebook's presence in developing economies is massive. To the point of being synonymous with "The Internet" in a number of places. But they've had a nagging problem. People in these economies consume contents, but do…

Developing countries aren't going to be too happy about this. If a large number of a country's citizens adopt this, it forces that country to lose its independence over monetary policy. Since Libra is not controlled by the local government, this is not a fixed exchange rate regime, it's effectively dollarization and can have far reaching consequences. IMHO, the Libra is at the same time too ambitious (in aiming for f…

If countries were printing money under fixed exchange rate regimes their economic policies are a joke anyway, all they’re going to accomplish is inflation.

Libra and other digital currencies might make it easier for people to switch away from their local currency, but banning it won’t affect the underlying problems.

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#987

Post by deevolution »

ThrustVectoring wrote: post #703
andrewla wrote: post #672

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing that separates this from a bank database is a small thing, but important, and that's that even the bank cannot reduce your balance in secret without your authorization, since transactions are signed and the ledger is public. That's because of the cryptographic primitives used. I think in the end we have to accept that taxonomies are going to have rough edges because the map is not the territory. With Bitcoi…

>the bank cannot reduce your balance in secret without your authorization, since transactions are signed and the ledger is public This capability is pretty pointless when the bank can indefinitely suspend your ability to make transactions. The ability to block transactions is an essential part of compliance with anti-money-laundering and other banking regulations.

Isn't AML just a bandage applied on top of a larger issue? What are the use cases for AML? How effective is AML in preventing and or solving for those use cases?

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#989

Post by kaushikb9 »

India is one of Facebook's biggest market. I am interested to understand how will they compete against India's own open wallet platform, UPI, which is already very popular and already surpassed overall Credit card transactions in the country. Wallet companies like PayTM, PhonePe, Google Pay have a strong presence throughout the country and are dealing directly with fiat currency
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