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Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

diem.com

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Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

#82
post #56

Ok, so let's focus on the underlying idea, without the "Facebook is trying to rebrand their evil brand" cruft. Basically, I think the underlying idea is valuable - low-cost, fast, reliable, accessible money transfers - clearly something missing right now in this world, even for the "global rich" (citizens of first-world countries), let alone for the "unbanked". It could even scale even more to a money store but that'…

> low-cost, fast, reliable, accessible money transfers - clearly something missing right now in this world

Missing in the US.

At least Europe has had those for a long time already, using normal banks.

Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically, avalanche is a US coin. It was also the first proof of stake crypto currency but I have not seen it picking up much traction in the US. https://www.avalabs.org *EDIT Avalanche was not the first proof of state crypto currency.

Avalanche is not the first PoS coin. You could make an argument that the first was Tezos but there are PoS like instruments that predate it significantly.

Looks like Peercoin predates Tezos by about six years (2012 vs 2018):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peercoin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tezos

Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The whole “unbanked” thing is really unconvincing, because there's no way Libra/Diem will be usable for people who don't have identity documents and the evidence needed for KYC/AML forms, and that excludes most unbanked people. Who says the countries this will be used in have KYC/AML? The unbanked people this would be for aren't in countries that have those laws. > As for international money transfers: TransferWise…

Anything that’s settled in dollars or dollar-like synthetic instruments will have KYC/AML.

Says who? Who is going to enforce some random African country that is in the middle of a civil war to have those?

Also, lots of drug deals are settled in US dollars, they don't have that. So your point that anything settled in dollars will have those laws is way off the mark and easily disproven.

Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

#85
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We normally call that an 'API', no chains of blocks required!

An API would only be the _interface_, which just like with MVC isn't the same between a lot of different implementations of the same model and doesn't cover additional assumptions, like e.g. having a chain of blocks with a consensus mechanism to decide which chain of blocks to prefer over a diverging chain of blocks. If you want to argue for an alternative to a chain of blocks you could of course do that, but in my p…

The standard definition of "blockchain" presumes that there is zero-trust between nodes and that anyone on the Internet can join the network. These properties are probably not what you want for most practical applications.

For most practical applications a git repo where you have some set of trusted notaries and at least M of N notaries must sign each commit is probably closer to what you want. (Or something that is similar logically but still does not fit the standard definition of blockchain, which again is trustless.)

Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

#86
post #19

Libra was interesting. With their basket of currencies and easily programmable contracts, it was a semi-unique project in crypto space. Over the months, their ambition has been cut a lot by regulators. No more basket of currencies, now just US Dollar. At this point I'm not sure there's any benefit to it being on the blockchain either.

Was there ever any benefit to using a blockchain - other than marketing BS, of course? It was always Facebook (or their chosen partners) who controlled the coin, so the blockchain was pointless - there never was any decentralized trust, as I understand it?

Completely different property rights enforcement (programmable and decentralized). Sure a theft may still have to be resolved via the courts, but it significantly reduces many overheads.

Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The whole “unbanked” thing is really unconvincing, because there's no way Libra/Diem will be usable for people who don't have identity documents and the evidence needed for KYC/AML forms, and that excludes most unbanked people. Who says the countries this will be used in have KYC/AML? The unbanked people this would be for aren't in countries that have those laws. > As for international money transfers: TransferWise…

Anything that’s settled in dollars or dollar-like synthetic instruments will have KYC/AML.

This is a global project, so it will be used in countries where this just isn't accurate.

Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

#90
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not sure about that. Whatsapp and Instagram are going in the opposite direction, they added Facebook in the Splash Screen.

That "unified" splash screen is menacing. A constant reminder that wherever you turn, it's a FB property. With Google/Apple/Microsoft it's quite straightforward, everything they make is clearly their style, their brand. This is not the case with Facebook's properties, they don't have a unified design language or branding. So adding a unified splash is a step in "marking it's territory", I just hate the feeling of tha…

So, are you basically saying that you feel uncomfortable having the ugly, naked truth made more obvious to you?
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