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House lawmakers ask Facebook to put Libra cryptocurrency project on hold

theverge.com

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Re: House lawmakers ask Facebook to put Libra cryptocurrency project on hold

#11

Post by ptah »

crazygringo wrote: post #6

This gets it all wrong, IMHO. An "official ask" rather than actual laws or regulations comes across as silly, self-serving and grandstanding -- although it is in Facebook's self-interest to work with Congress. The problem here is the potential for uncompetitive dominance -- just like Google or Apple can unfairly favor their own products in Search or apps, what does it mean for Facebook to favor or only allow its own…

I think they are asking them to delay development so they can do proper investigation into possible effects before regulating

Re: House lawmakers ask Facebook to put Libra cryptocurrency project on hold

#13

Post by paulgb »

seibelj wrote: post #10

Official Facebook summary of the past two weeks, responding to many criticisms: https://www.facebook.com/notes/david-marcus/libra-2-weeks-in...

Most amusing to me is the question "Can Facebook be trusted to manage financial services?" to which Facebook's own answer is not an emphatic "yes", but an explanation that they will not control it.

Re: House lawmakers ask Facebook to put Libra cryptocurrency project on hold

#14

Post by maxaf »

higginsc wrote: post #5

>“Because Facebook is already in the hands of over a quarter of the world’s population, it is imperative that Facebook and its partners immediately cease implementation plans until regulators and Congress have an opportunity to examine these risks and take action,” the letter says. We're scared that you have the ability to disintermediate our control of the financial system just like you did to publishers.

Forced to choose between Facebook and a government controlling anything, I'd rather have the government at the wheel. For me this is a "devil I know" type of thing.

Re: House lawmakers ask Facebook to put Libra cryptocurrency project on hold

#15

Post by simonh »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #12

The government hates it when you try to make a new ponzi to replace the one they have got going.

Alongside their Ponzi. It wouldn't really replace anything, any more that BTC has replaced Dollars. The only thing anyone cares about with respect to BTC is how many dollars they are worth.

Re: House lawmakers ask Facebook to put Libra cryptocurrency project on hold

#16

Post by rolltiide »

Dan Larimer's EOS functions very similar to Libra, with Delegated Proof of Stake. EOS' DPOS encountered much of the same criticisms around centralization when it was launched, but many people swear by it just because it is good enough. Delegates ("block producers") do reverse transactions on EOS and they consider it a feature. EOS is not immutable, but it does have faster transaction capacity than incumbent chains like Ethereum and Bitcoin.

If Dan Larimer had launched Libra instead of Zuckerberg even with the same corporate block producers, a lot of the crypto community would be loving it. Governments would have ignored it.

This is all about the messenger itself. Zuckerberg deciding to crucify himself and be the focus of society's disdain.

Nice to see the state's monopoly on money evaporating overnight. Its not about whether this iteration would be better for society, its more about the competition existing.

Re: House lawmakers ask Facebook to put Libra cryptocurrency project on hold

#17

Post by nickthemagicman »

Think of how much personal data Facebook could gather on you if it knows 'EVERYTHING' you purchase or at least a huge part of what you purchase.

They've already been busted selling personal data under the radar to third parties.

It's less 'omg control of the financial system' and more 'you're not exactly the exemplar of trust with peoples personal data'

I'm all for crypto making the lame financial system we currently have obsolete but I don't know if Facebook are the most trustworthy people to do it.

Re: House lawmakers ask Facebook to put Libra cryptocurrency project on hold

#18

Post by smacktoward »

maxaf wrote: post #14
higginsc wrote: post #5

>“Because Facebook is already in the hands of over a quarter of the world’s population, it is imperative that Facebook and its partners immediately cease implementation plans until regulators and Congress have an opportunity to examine these risks and take action,” the letter says. We're scared that you have the ability to disintermediate our control of the financial system just like you did to publishers.

Forced to choose between Facebook and a government controlling anything, I'd rather have the government at the wheel. For me this is a "devil I know" type of thing.

With government, you also get periodic opportunities to vote on whether or not it should change course. It's hard to change a government's direction with the ballot box, of course, but it's not impossible.

Contrast this to Facebook, which is structured specifically to prevent even large shareholders from having a say in its operations. Facebook is the Empire of Zuck, and the only factor that matters in its decisionmaking are the whims of its boy king.

Re: House lawmakers ask Facebook to put Libra cryptocurrency project on hold

#19

Post by bilbo0s »

higginsc wrote: post #5

>“Because Facebook is already in the hands of over a quarter of the world’s population, it is imperative that Facebook and its partners immediately cease implementation plans until regulators and Congress have an opportunity to examine these risks and take action,” the letter says. We're scared that you have the ability to disintermediate our control of the financial system just like you did to publishers.

Pretty much.

That said, anyone in a position of power generally acts to defend their own power. It's not like we should not have expected this from the government. Bitcoin, Ethereum, whatever type kooks are one thing. Grandma and her book club are never going to use that stuff to buy pies at the church's bake sell. Facebook offering Libra or, God forbid, Walmart offering "Wally Bucks", is an entirely different matter.

Re: House lawmakers ask Facebook to put Libra cryptocurrency project on hold

#20

Post by ckastner »

> This is why we believe in and are committed to a collaborative process with regulators, central banks, and lawmakers to ensure that Libra helps with the kinds of issues that the existing financial system has been fighting, notably around money laundering, terrorism financing, and more.

This was inevitable, but it's surprising to see them acknowledge it.

> combined with the ability for law enforcement and regulators to conduct their own analysis of on-chain activity [...] Libra should improve detection and enforcement, not set these back.

I expressed concern that this would happen a while ago [1]. This basically bypasses all privacy safeguards that clients would enjoy at a regular bank.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20263861

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