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House lawmakers ask Facebook to put Libra cryptocurrency project on hold

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

#41

Post by CuriousSkeptic »

smacktoward wrote: post #18
maxaf wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 decisionma…

I don’t think the interest of other large shareholders would be more aligned with the interest of the general population though.

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

#42

Post by 6gvONxR4sf7o »

People here are talking like the government is trying to do something bad. If this were goldman sachs instead of facebook, we'd be cheering. The financial system is complex and having the wrong incentive systems (regulations) in place can lead to trememdous harm throughout the world. If you were working when the 2008 recession hit, you're familiar with the kinds of issues that financial regulation works to deter.

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

#43

Post by Zenbit_UX »

paulgb wrote: post #13
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.

I don't see how the only reasonable response to such a stupid question amuses you. If they had responded with an emphatic yes they would have been crucified in the media immediately.

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

#44

Post by mythrwy »

colonelpopcorn wrote: post #3
jbverschoor wrote: post #2

“These vulnerabilities could be exploited and obscured by bad actors, as other cryptocurrencies, exchanges, and wallets have been in the past.” Says one bad actor to the other bad actor.

I really want to see what happens if Facebook says no.

Maybe Facebook doesn't say "no".

Maybe Facebook says "How about if we share all the data with your agents real time through an API."?

BTW Maxine, isn't your re-election coming up? We really like what you are doing in Washington here's a check for some signs.

(or something along these lines)

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

#45

Post by 2_listerine_pls »

6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #42

People here are talking like the government is trying to do something bad. If this were goldman sachs instead of facebook, we'd be cheering. The financial system is complex and having the wrong incentive systems (regulations) in place can lead to trememdous harm throughout the world. If you were working when the 2008 recession hit, you're familiar with the kinds of issues that financial regulation works to deter.

> People are talking like the government is trying to do something bad.

Based on 1 article you read

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

#46

Post by kyrra »

aNoob7000 wrote: post #32
hjk05 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This might depend on what you consider a “regular bank” but every bank and exchange I’ve ever come into contact with requires documentation and vetting to ensure that I am who I say I am and that I’m not not laundering money, and if the police come with a warrant they get everything they ask for. I think you might be thinking of specific banks and shell company schemes in Panama and not what most people would describ…

Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and Know Your Customer (KYC). I'm going out on a limb to say that most tech companies have no idea what BSA or KYC means and the paperwork involved.

As someone who works for Google (opinions are my own) on the payments team, I disagree. :)

Due to P2P, and disbursements we do for Play developers and AdSense, we are heavily invested in KYC. And we have to comply with the regulations of all countries we do business in, not just the US.

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

#47

Post by csomar »

Imo, Facebook released its plans in the last minute, so that it can have time to launch before regulator catches up. The later they catch up, the more likely Facebook is going to dominate the market and become harder to roll back the currency.

Facebook is probably aware of government regulators looking to control it more and certainly anxious about voices looking to break it. The Libra coin being established as a pseudonymous crypto-currency in Switzerland will give it some time to figure stuff out.

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

#48

Post by Fellshard »

simonh wrote: post #15
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.

That's been key all along - as long as cryptocurrency remains anchored in real currency value for the majority of exchanges, then it will fail to stand on its own, as the cost of transfer to and from BTC will be too steep to warrant.

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

#49

Post by craftyguy »

Zenbit_UX wrote: post #43
paulgb wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I don't see how the only reasonable response to such a stupid question amuses you. If they had responded with an emphatic yes they would have been crucified in the media immediately.

Not GP, but I find it amusing that anyone is even paying attention to facebook's response to the question. Of course they're going to give a muted, unemphatic yes (as you said), and the public seem to believe them and end all questioning there. Luckily the US government is not giving up so easily.

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

#50

Post by sdinsn »

solotronics wrote: post #28
luckydata wrote: post #21

This is not surprising. The minute Libra starts operating it becomes the main money laundering tool in the world. Depending on how it's implemented it could easily topple the economies of smaller countries, and significantly increase funding for terrorist organizations and garden variety criminals. I don't see how any government, and especially the US government, agrees to any of that anytime soon.

lol.. I don't think people realize how the legacy banking systems already facilitate this activity HSBC was recently fined for laundering billions for the cartels. This activity happens on an industrial scale and a Facebook cryptocurrency isn't needed for these groups to move money.

Of course laundering already occurs. But that doesn't mean we should ignore things that could further enable it.
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