I'm of course not familiar with the specific mindsets and the history of this decision, but I want to share a bit of cultural perspective from Germany that is so far not really considered in this comment section: Germany is very, very keen on preventing powerful entities from acting outside of regulation and similarly, if not more, on preventing a single entity to get in control of everything. This is largely due to…
Ironically, Germany generally also controls the Euro for the so called PIIGS countries. For all intents and purposes the euro is just as much as an externally-controlled entity as the Libra.
I'm of course not familiar with the specific mindsets and the history of this decision, but I want to share a bit of cultural perspective from Germany that is so far not really considered in this comment section: Germany is very, very keen on preventing powerful entities from acting outside of regulation and similarly, if not more, on preventing a single entity to get in control of everything. This is largely due to…
> Germany is very, very keen on preventing powerful entities from acting outside of regulation and similarly, if not more, on preventing a single entity to get in control of everything If you watched the news some time during the last 30 years you get quite a different impression. The German government parties, particularly CDU, CSU and SPD, are _constantly_ trying to grab power and erode our civil liberties; They ba…
>> The only problem the German government has with Facebook Libra is that they themselves don't control it.
I don’t see why this is hypocritical, a problem, or even an argument. The CDU, etc... are elected by the German people and hence are designated by the people to control state power. It’s their job to control these kinds of things.
Facebook is elected by no one, represents only Mark Zuckerberg’s interests, and is accountable only to him.
I'm of course not familiar with the specific mindsets and the history of this decision, but I want to share a bit of cultural perspective from Germany that is so far not really considered in this comment section: Germany is very, very keen on preventing powerful entities from acting outside of regulation and similarly, if not more, on preventing a single entity to get in control of everything. This is largely due to…
From a history perspective : the hyperinflation leading up to the 3rd Reich.
Which is one reason why capital controls are so destructive. Allowing denizens to keep their savings in whatever form they so choose is a human right. Libra will afford people the option to invest in and use a token that is backed 1 for 1 to a basket of global currencies and government bonds at a low cost.
Then create a bank. But that's not what this is. They want to make a bank that prints its own currency and skips the paperwork needed for current monetary exchange. It's just as OP has said.
Banks don't follow full reserve banking. They follow fractional reserve banking. When you put 1 Euro in the bank, they have discretion as to how to invest this amount and only need to keep a fraction of your money in reserves. With a bank I'm also stuck being exposed to the currency of my account. And European banks often have fees or minimum balances. Libra offers benefits to banks and is safer. [edit] The idea of a…
How is Libra a full reserve bank if investment is how they make their money? It doesn't sound any different at all except there's no regulations and no government backing (such as FDIC guarantees).
> Germany is very, very keen on preventing powerful entities from acting outside of regulation and similarly, if not more, on preventing a single entity to get in control of everything. This is largely due to some foobar in the last century, which I'm sure everyone is aware of. Maybe if they'd turn their minds towards what ruling parties have had a monopoly on government for decades as to not allow one club to get co…
> Germany is deconstructing itself by [...] ignoring millenium problems in governance, such as unchecked mass migration. What are you talking about? Germany is 25% immigrants, the US is close to 100% immigrants.
I'm of course not familiar with the specific mindsets and the history of this decision, but I want to share a bit of cultural perspective from Germany that is so far not really considered in this comment section: Germany is very, very keen on preventing powerful entities from acting outside of regulation and similarly, if not more, on preventing a single entity to get in control of everything. This is largely due to…
The strange part to me is just that there are already hundreds of crypto currencies available in Germany. When the government says that yes, these hundreds of currencies are fine, but Facebook can’t create one, then it just seems like the policy is anti-Facebook for the sake of being anti-Facebook.
I'm of course not familiar with the specific mindsets and the history of this decision, but I want to share a bit of cultural perspective from Germany that is so far not really considered in this comment section: Germany is very, very keen on preventing powerful entities from acting outside of regulation and similarly, if not more, on preventing a single entity to get in control of everything. This is largely due to…
That’s a very typical German mindset. You implicitly assume that nothing good can come out of Libra so it should be banned from the beginning. The pragmatic approach is to wait and see what happens. Most likely, it won’t be as successful as you assume it will be. Also, there are plenty of other forms of private money out there that you don’t seem to have a problem with (e.g. credit cards), as well as foreign currenci…
If they just took the “wait and see” approach and some fraction of the population took it up, they’d find themselves fighting against a group of citizens with vested interests, and the corporations would say “you can’t take this away from these people” much like the gun lobby does in the USA. The real “wait and see” approach is to prevent it get a foot in the door, see what happens elsewhere, and then perhaps repeal the decision in the future.
> without also impacting a lot of other companies and people doing similar things because the law should apply equally to all. Other blockchains have not been blocked outright because they don't pose a threat and are developing slowly, so EU countries are working towards more or less sensible regulations. Facebook has far more power to drive adoption, so in order to avoid a situation where Facebook screws up (intenti…
Maybe but I'm just making the point that Facebook has plenty of ways to use most or all of what they announced regarding Libra to basically meet their stated goal of providing a wallet feature to users that would basically amount to them doing very similar/identical things as other companies already do and would be quite hard to ban for that same reason. The reason I bring up payment solutions is because that is lite…
Of course FB has ways to use most of what they announced with Libra and most of that would be fine. The problem with Libra is its core, the fact that it's an alternative currency backed by a company that can reach almost everybody. Other companies develop other coins but they do not have the influence FB has and so it gives legislators time to regulate it.
Sovereign monetary policy goes out the window if Libra takes a serious hold in society. The only solution to that is a decisive ban on it.
I'd wager that about 90 % of "credit card transactions" in Germany are actually Girocard transactions. Virtually every bank card is a Girocard.
Depending on your bank, it's quite the opposite, particularly when you want to draw cash from an ATM. With a Girocard, you have to go to a specific brand of bank or hope they are in your "cash group" or else you will pay a hefty fee. But some banks offer to withdraw from any ATM using their VISA CC with no fees at all. For years I've been using this to get cash without much of a hassle and pay for stuff I'd otherwise…
That should be easy to figure out by looking whether the transaction shows up in the checking account or in the credit card account.