Libra, a Cyberpunk Nightmare in the Midst of Crypto Spring

The lack of adoption is a combo of a 1) network "dead-zone", 2) reversal risk, and 3) regulatory friction.

FB & Co are uniquely situated to fix these 3 in a way small companies just can't.

1) Any network is useless unless people you need to use the network are using it. Cryptos are still in the "dead-zone" where there's not enough people using it where it has value as a payment platform. By integrating into existing apps (Venmo, FB Messenger, Paypal) that could change

2) Every fiat transaction has some level of reversal risk. There is legislation in the US that requires, and companies that implement, reversal of payments if the payor claims fraud or account takeover. Any company that sits in between fiat systems and the crypto systems have a huge amount of this risk cause they can't reverse crypto payments. These companies are uniquely capable of handling this risk because they already spending resources to figuring out that you're a real human being and you are who you say you are.

3) Regulatory friction (AML/KYC) is something these companies are uniquely able to tackle because they have your identity. Furthermore, they have the legal resources to find out how far they can push the line and lobbying to keep them from harm when they get too close.

Only if the currency flows out of traditional Fiat and into Libra don't substantially affect currency prices or the effect is more or less universal.

For instance, if the euro loses 10% value in a given period of time while 3 other equally weighted currencies are relatively stable, libra would lose ~2.5% value in that time. Given the low risk this seems like an obvious hedge if you are heavy in euro, and momentum could easily snowball.

The connections to Aadhar is far more interesting than is mentioned in the article. There is a revolving door between USAID's 'Catalyst' promoting cashless transactions, Aadhar and the people who benefited from demonetization. The Indian state has also been extremely antagonistic to Bitcoin and other such 'anarchist' platforms.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/a-well-kept-open-secret-washin...

The state apparatus often grumbles about 'terrorism' and how internet has made things difficult for them. Infact, the minister incharge of IT was quoted as saying in 2011 that internet access needs to be moderated with IDs (guess which one). It's almost certain that such legislation will be authorized in the coming decade - perhaps sooner if the "i-patriot" act which is in the waiting (in the US) passes earlier.

It may very well be that the retainers of the East India company (aka deep state) are planning on selling the nation for a few pieces of silver again - which would explain why policies remain uniformly the same with every dispensation. Would not be the first time, and should not be surprising. However, since history education follows the colonial model of cryptic self-justification, it should not surprise anyone that clear foreign geopolitical moves (India has close to half a trillion of IMF/WB loans) are now seen as 'nationalistic'.

It'll be very interesting to see how this proceeds in India - given its hostile stance on Bitcoin. I'm betting the state will welcome it with open arms and will probably proceed to tie it to UPI. In fact this could take a big share of the foreign remittance market, and could rope in Indian banks in to influence the state. I imagine people like Nandan Nilekani, who illegally pushed the 'Big Brother' project, will play crucial roles here.

On the other hand, "we respect privacy" != "panopticon money."