Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra • Hacker News Board

Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

#201

Post by faeyanpiraat » Sun, Dec 06, 2020, 5:45 PM UTC

fastball wrote: post #167

noelsusman wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would it be good to free currency from government regulation? This is something I often see crypto advocates blow right past as if it's self explanatory, but I don't think it is. I like that the currency I use is managed by my government. Why should I want to switch?

Obviously the biggest one is concern over things like hyperinflation, which has happened in the real-world many times. Or, not quite at hyperinflation, but your government is enacting policies based on MMT or similar and you are worried that this could hurt you (as a holder of the currency) in the long-run. Or, maybe you're worried about governments being able to dictate what you are allowed to purchase with "their"…

I'm not a finance expert, but I don't think those issues are caused by the kind of money used.

People make mistakes, some of them are greedy, powerful people want to keep their power, etc..

You can't fix people with a currency.

And humans are creative, if you switch over to crypto, they'll find a new way of doing the same old things..

My government not wanting me to send money somewhere: Well, this might be a clichè, but apart from slightly limiting my freedom this prevents bad guys doing nasty stuff aswell.

Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

#202

Post by Acrobatic_Road » Sun, Dec 06, 2020, 5:47 PM UTC

geraldbauer wrote: post #176

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #88

Interesting. They went from "Libra" (implying Freedom) to "Diem" (which sounds a lot like Die or Dying).

From The Awesome Diem (formerly Libra) Page [1]: Diem stems from the famous latin phrase 'Carpe Diem' translating to 'Enjoy the present, make the most of today', a common mistranslation is 'Seize the Day' (via Wiktionary) Carpe is the second-person singular present active imperative of carpō "pick or pluck" used by Horace to mean "enjoy, seize, use, make use of". Diem is the accusative of dies "day". A more literal t…

Using the accusative case as nominative. Ugh.

Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

#203

Post by rytill » Sun, Dec 06, 2020, 5:47 PM UTC

cortesoft wrote: post #191

rytill wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s just a long number with no intrinsic worth. Like money.

Being able to pay your taxes with it gives it some more worth than just numbers.

Paying US taxes doesn’t count. That’s like saying I can pay gas fees with ETH.

Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

#204

Post by rytill » Sun, Dec 06, 2020, 5:49 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #200

jackric wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Accountable to a government body with opaque motives and capture over its citizens. Crypto has inspectable source code and miners and coin holders can jump ship if shenanigans are perceived

How’d that Ethereum DAO attack go? Some folks just decided to hard fork the chain. Much trust, such governance. I’d elect for a suboptimal government over such mechanisms any day, which seems to be a global consensus when you observe the lack of volatility in reserve currency values.

Then the market decided that the new chain was more valuable than the original. Still decentralized. Forks are fair game.

Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

#205

Post by TigeriusKirk » Sun, Dec 06, 2020, 5:49 PM UTC

ExtraServings wrote: post #187

TigeriusKirk wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's simply wrong to state every country that "matters" has KYC/AML regulations similar to those required in the US.

so again, which countries?

Many, many countries don't have KYC/AML laws as strict as the US. If you want specifics, I encourage you to look into it.

Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

#206

Post by toomuchtodo » Sun, Dec 06, 2020, 5:51 PM UTC

rytill wrote: post #204

toomuchtodo wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How’d that Ethereum DAO attack go? Some folks just decided to hard fork the chain. Much trust, such governance. I’d elect for a suboptimal government over such mechanisms any day, which seems to be a global consensus when you observe the lack of volatility in reserve currency values.

Then the market decided that the new chain was more valuable than the original. Still decentralized. Forks are fair game.

Hence why crypto can't be taken seriously as a currency. Imagine explaining to a non tech family member or friend why their dollars have zero value now because they’re on the wrong chain.

Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

#207

Post by kortilla » Sun, Dec 06, 2020, 5:51 PM UTC

smt88 wrote: post #75

obilgic wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US has a culture that knows that resisting the change isn't way to stay as #1, and you better innovate and disrupt yourself. However, state's innovation might not end up being what crypto advocates are looking for.

I wish the US still had that culture. Our federal legislature has been intentionally deadlocked by a single man for years, without any hope of that changing.

This mistake in this line of thinking is that innovation comes from the government.

Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

#208

Post by davidgerard » Sun, Dec 06, 2020, 5:51 PM UTC

randall wrote: post #199

tomp wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2) Does Facebook (or any other for-profit company) get access to the data (now or ever in the future)? 3) So if I want to send money (from say GBP) to someone in Japan, what would happen? Is the FX exchange seamless or will I need to use some intermediary coin?

2) I don't believe so. 3) The hope is you don't have to use an intermediary coin.

They have declared that they will not access the data.

However, Facebook makes extensive use of shadow profiles of people who aren't even Facebook customers. They could certainly add Diem blockchain data to those, as they will have access to said blockchain via Novi, their Diem wallet.

David Marcus and Mark Zuckerberg have both stated that data from Novi will not go to the Facebook advertising engine. However, Zuckerberg and Facebook's track record on such promises is that they consistently do this anyway. Then Zuckerberg apologises, then he does it again.

Just by looking at Facebook's past behaviour, you can assume that an important purpose for Diem is to collect personal information. Because everything they do is to collect personal information.

Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

#209

Post by samatman » Sun, Dec 06, 2020, 5:53 PM UTC

cortesoft wrote: post #188

samatman wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 2% annual debasement rate of modern state currencies would have been a massive crisis in the era of metals. Imagine a king putting 2% less silver in the coin, year over year. We're just used to it. But leave that aside, you said you like government-managed currency and I believe you. Venezuelans don't. The way I see it, what's stopping the EUR and USD from going down that spiral is momentum, rather than some law…

Having some inflation is important, though, to prime the economy for growth. Low level, consistent, inflation is a good thing.

Opinions differ substantially on this point.

Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra

#210

Post by kortilla » Sun, Dec 06, 2020, 5:54 PM UTC

chaostheory wrote: post #72

ForHackernews wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't bet on it. People said the Yen was going to displace USD, then they said that about the Euro...

I’m not saying that I feel that it’s a likely event. I’m saying that Facebook thinks it’s one. On a related note, when it seems like Ray Dalio is saying the same thing (the US dollar will be replaced as a reserve currency), there’s more credence to the idea

Why would Facebook care? As a huge multi-national they have billions in all kinds of currencies across different banks. They already are prepared to exchange in any freely traded currencies.