Wondering how normal Germans would react to Libra. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ26TbhZW8k (How to deal with money like a German | Meet the Germans)
Libra, 2 Weeks In
171–180 of 287 posts
Re: Libra, 2 Weeks In
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hardly. The alternative would be a repeal of legal tender laws. This would allow consumers & businesses to transact in the currency of their choice.
“The alternative would be a repeal of laws establishing police, allowing consumers & businesses to choose between law enforcement providers.” Look I’m not saying you can’t criticize the existence of the fed, but calling them a “government enforced monopoly” is inane. They are a _part_ of the government.
If using a given telephone company were mandated by the government, it would be by definition a government enforced monopoly. Similarly, legal tender laws force businesses to accept USD to settle all debts. From this point, Gresham's law also plays a role.
There is a long history of private policing in the United States.
The Federal Reserve Bank is not owned by the government. It is considered a public private partnership.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_police_in_the_United_S... https://mises.org/wire/private-policing-isnt-fantasy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gresham%27s_law
Re: Libra, 2 Weeks In
#173> transition to a truly permissionless and decentralized consensus
The fact that this is something that is supposed to happen at some unspecified point in the future but the "blockchain" they have cannot handle it -- I think its just a lie. It looks like it would require a massively different codebase and hardfork to get to permisionless and decentralized. They are not actually planning on doing it.
Also, the fact that its backed by Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal -- they are the absolute enemies of cryptocurrency.
Real cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum will be able to scale. Ethereum in particular has very advanced plans for rolling out very high scalability in a matter of months. That is what I support.
I do not think it makes sense to use a fake "cryptocurrency" just so that the old companies can continue to get a cut of my transactions and the government can more easily control my money if they want.
Re: Libra, 2 Weeks In
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
Assuming adoption - It exists in the world and has all the influence an adopted currency has. Influence controlled by Facebook.
This seems like nothing but fearmongering. We don't any reason to expect that libra is going to displace "real" currencies. Why the hell would the governments of the world give up their power over currency? It is a huge power they hold that they do not want to lose. Have you ever heard the term "legal tender"? You are legally required to accept USD as payment in America, and every country has a similar law. The gover…
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Re: Libra, 2 Weeks In
#175I'm asking this in all seriousness. Why would anyone want to use Libra? Let's say a consumer wants to buy something. They can either pay with "normal" money in one step or they can use their phone to convert their money into Libra and then make the purchase with Libra. Why would they go through the extra step(s)? Am I to believe that the benefit is "lower transaction fees"? Because if so, Libra doesn't have a chance.…
Check out FX charts for Russian Ruble, Argentinian Peso, Turkish Lyra or even the British Pound. Then ask yourself which of these countries have financial institutions that allow their clients to seamlessly transact in more stable currencies like US dollar or Euro and you have your answer.
Re: Libra, 2 Weeks In
#176I'm asking this in all seriousness. Why would anyone want to use Libra? Let's say a consumer wants to buy something. They can either pay with "normal" money in one step or they can use their phone to convert their money into Libra and then make the purchase with Libra. Why would they go through the extra step(s)? Am I to believe that the benefit is "lower transaction fees"? Because if so, Libra doesn't have a chance.…
Check out FX charts for Russian Ruble, Argentinian Peso, Turkish Lyra or even the British Pound. Then ask yourself which of these countries have financial institutions that allow their clients to seamlessly transact in more stable currencies like US dollar or Euro and you have your answer.
These countries can simply ask Facebook/Calibra to not offer their wallet, or to require FB to disable the wallet functionality.
Or they can ban Facebook.
Re: Libra, 2 Weeks In
#177I'm asking this in all seriousness. Why would anyone want to use Libra? Let's say a consumer wants to buy something. They can either pay with "normal" money in one step or they can use their phone to convert their money into Libra and then make the purchase with Libra. Why would they go through the extra step(s)? Am I to believe that the benefit is "lower transaction fees"? Because if so, Libra doesn't have a chance.…
In the Netherlands (or the EU) banking is sort of changing, we have some Fintech companies moving into the space (bunq, revolut, N26). I'm a customer at bunq and they are a breath of fresh air, I can: * Have 25 separated accounts or savings goals * Share any bank account (or savings goal) with anyone (using bunq) * On the fly couple my passes to any of the accounts * Use NFC on my Android phone to pay * Have a websit…
"On the fly couple my passes to any of the accounts"
I don't understand what you mean by this?
Re: Libra, 2 Weeks In
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the Netherlands (or the EU) banking is sort of changing, we have some Fintech companies moving into the space (bunq, revolut, N26). I'm a customer at bunq and they are a breath of fresh air, I can: * Have 25 separated accounts or savings goals * Share any bank account (or savings goal) with anyone (using bunq) * On the fly couple my passes to any of the accounts * Use NFC on my Android phone to pay * Have a websit…
"On the fly couple my passes to any of the accounts" I don't understand what you mean by this?
Shoddy translation from Dutch, but he probably means that you can link any of your Bunq bank accounts to any of the Bunq banking cards you have.
Re: Libra, 2 Weeks In
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
This seems doable without Libra. I'm in Australia and my local transfers from the bank app (ING) are both free and instant. At least to banks that joined Osko. That sorts out pretty much all simple/tiny transfers. If Libra can guarantee international transfers for free, I expect that fee will also go away from the banks.
The problem is that every country seems to have its own system. In Belgium it's Bancontact, in Portugal it's MBWay, etc. I'm not sure they have anything that works internationally and instantly.
I suspect the biggest reason is... nobody's better than them, so there was no rush. Even paypal is not that great. If Libre actually takes off, whether it's good or not, it's likely to force some competition. Kind of like Uber sucks in may ways, but it did get many local taxi companies to improve their services.
Re: Libra, 2 Weeks In
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
True. This is exactly the problem with non cash transactions. Every single transaction, no matter how small, is recorded forever and shared with several governments and secret services. I never signed up for this. This is why we need cash and why they are fighting it.
Another question on my mind (again, just my random thoughts, not representing others) is: How could this be used to undermine countries economies who are possibly earmarked for regime change by a company with strong ties to the US State Department affect the current geopolitical landscape...especially when some "developing nations" populations literally see Facebook as the Internet?
Same as Trump's (and his predecessors) financial blacklists. Huawei CFO is prosecuted and currently in home arrest in Canada awaiting extradition to the US for allegedly bypassing sanctions on Iran.
In simpler words: another US-domiciled lever that can be switched to the off position.