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Facebook, Libra, and the Long Game

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Re: Facebook, Libra, and the Long Game

#2
I too dismissed Libra out of hand, but the coalition that Facebook is building is interesting.

People say that "Fintech threatens the banks" but almost all Fintech companies partner with the banks in one way or another.

Look at the companies involved with Libra and see that none of them are banks.

Libra will still have a lot of money on deposit with the banks, but it might be the first Fintech that will really bypass them.

Re: Facebook, Libra, and the Long Game

#3

I too dismissed Libra out of hand, but the coalition that Facebook is building is interesting. People say that "Fintech threatens the banks" but almost all Fintech companies partner with the banks in one way or another. Look at the companies involved with Libra and see that none of them are banks. Libra will still have a lot of money on deposit with the banks, but it might be the first Fintech that will really bypass…

Are they beating PayPal by the length of that list?

Re: Facebook, Libra, and the Long Game

#4

I too dismissed Libra out of hand, but the coalition that Facebook is building is interesting. People say that "Fintech threatens the banks" but almost all Fintech companies partner with the banks in one way or another. Look at the companies involved with Libra and see that none of them are banks. Libra will still have a lot of money on deposit with the banks, but it might be the first Fintech that will really bypass…

Where is the Visa press release? Where is the Uber CEO interview on Libra?

The Libra membership list is kind of meaningless, given that none of the partners seem to have any interest of promoting the project... mainly Zuck just asked these companies "Hey, you want to be on a list for a tech project for some free PR?" and until we hear more from the partners there's no reason to take this list seriously.

Re: Facebook, Libra, and the Long Game

#6
post #4

I too dismissed Libra out of hand, but the coalition that Facebook is building is interesting. People say that "Fintech threatens the banks" but almost all Fintech companies partner with the banks in one way or another. Look at the companies involved with Libra and see that none of them are banks. Libra will still have a lot of money on deposit with the banks, but it might be the first Fintech that will really bypass…

Where is the Visa press release? Where is the Uber CEO interview on Libra? The Libra membership list is kind of meaningless, given that none of the partners seem to have any interest of promoting the project... mainly Zuck just asked these companies "Hey, you want to be on a list for a tech project for some free PR?" and until we hear more from the partners there's no reason to take this list seriously.

It's likely going to be more stringent than that. I doubt Visa/MasterCard would allow their logo next to Libra without knowing what they're signing up for.

Re: Facebook, Libra, and the Long Game

#8
post #4

I too dismissed Libra out of hand, but the coalition that Facebook is building is interesting. People say that "Fintech threatens the banks" but almost all Fintech companies partner with the banks in one way or another. Look at the companies involved with Libra and see that none of them are banks. Libra will still have a lot of money on deposit with the banks, but it might be the first Fintech that will really bypass…

Where is the Visa press release? Where is the Uber CEO interview on Libra? The Libra membership list is kind of meaningless, given that none of the partners seem to have any interest of promoting the project... mainly Zuck just asked these companies "Hey, you want to be on a list for a tech project for some free PR?" and until we hear more from the partners there's no reason to take this list seriously.

It's not entirely free: those companies are paying $10M to run a Libra node. That's still pocket change as a hedge in case it actually takes off.

So maybe they're happy to shut up for now, let Zuck take the regulatory flack, and if it seems like Libra will take off on FB's efforts, they're positioned to benefit from adoption.

Re: Facebook, Libra, and the Long Game

#9
I can't help but think that Facebook doomed this "distributed ledger" possibility by trying to be first to market with a tarnished brand.

The developing world would hugely benefit from a scalable technology that can efficiently service digital transactions. The piece demonstrates this with how quickly WeChat Pay and Alipay penetrated China.

I can't imagine the possibility for prosperity when 3 billion consumers enter the global economy in a matter of years.

Alternative currencies were always going to have to compete (or at least deal with) with powerful governments, and all the most powerful governments are most easily manipulated by appealing to a mass audience.

The Facebook brand isn't capable of doing that right now. There's far more incentive for politicians to talk about breaking Facebook up than to encourage Facebook to embed itself in the financial lives of their constituents.

If a decision is made to breakup Facebook, spinning off Libra will be right at the top of the list. I can't see how it survives as a stand-alone technology without the support of Facebook's network effects.

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