What I don't get is why people all try to do their own when there is already a slew of existing solution and it hasn't gained adoption. Why not back something like Stellar if what you really care about is helping financial transactions!
Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra
321–330 of 425 posts
Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra
#322Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are some within that realize the U.S is in an unsustainable path of devaluing, borrowing, and excess spending in pursuit of failed policies. There is still hope!
What does that have to do with crypto?
hard to devalue a currency you don't control. which then leads to reigning in of the leviathan.
Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra
#323Earlier quoted context omitted.
1) think of it as a centralized database that needs replication, you’d be a bit worried if this central place got attacked, so then you need some gossip-based protocol in place to allow some users to police the system. Consensus is a simple one because it allows most users to trust that consensus was agreed on correctly, as opposed to systems like transparency protocols that require users to more willingly engage in…
If a sufficiently large nation state orders the companies involved to deny or override a transaction, is the gossip protocol/blockchain useful at all in denying this? Or is this one of those mechanisms only used for keeping out low level/underfunded attackers?
The system is governed by an entity in Switzerland that must follow regulations, so such a scenario would not be an attack on the system (and thus not be in scope for consensus). That being said, I don't know much about laws and regulations so that's the extent of my understanding :)
Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra
#324Earlier quoted context omitted.
That might be workable only if you specifically don't interface with the outside financial world. If for example you require a third party exchange to sell to fiat currency, that should work. But that exchange has to do the KYC stuff and the unbanked are still cut out. Now if it's a local exchange for a local currency, not USD then is fine.
> Now if it's a local exchange for a local currency, not USD then is fine. They can exchange in physical currency which would be acceptable in most third world countries and with the amount physical currency floating around they wouldn't need to get any from the US, no?
I don't think you could do that at any scale and escape the wrath of the US.
That runs afoul of most money laundering regulations, so if you have any presence in the US they'll go after you, and they'll prosecute anyone with any serious connection to it and extradite those people to the US where possible.
Moving money across international borders is not a problem you can just engineer around. You have to play by the rules.
Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra
#325Earlier quoted context omitted.
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,…
The end of the gold standard in the 70s meant the US could "afford" to fight infinite wars by just printing dollars and passing the real cost to the rest of the world, that is why the US is now the world's biggest borrower nation when it used to be the world's biggest creditor nation. The current state of endless military interventions is only possible because of the huge deficits in the US that are not possible with hard money.
Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra
#326Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the UK, I have low-cost, fast, reliable, accessible money transfers. Basic bank accounts are free, and come with reliable free instant transfers to any other UK bank. That may not be reality in all countries, but it is in many. That's quite a high bar for rival payment methods to clear, but I think the main problem for corporate currencies like this will be rivalry from government issuers. Governments jealously gu…
> not tied to archaic concepts like sort codes and account numbers What are the problems with sort codes and account numbers? Are you after binding the account to your identity like Australian PayID?
Odd thing given the UK context - the major banks and many smaller let you pay someone with just their mobile number (it’s called PayM). Although given its bank payments, account numbers are far from archaic, and new things like confirmation payee help make the whole system more secure.
Now it you want to talk about archaic, how about MT103 and friends?
Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is there still so much of ignorance over cryptocurrency this far along after its inception? Just because you buy and sell gold with major currencies doesn't mean gold is regulated. Crypto isn't much different. If you can get it anonymously, you can move it anywhere you want as long as you stay on the blockchain. Once you leave the blockchain, you aren't dealing with crypto anymore. Once you sell gold you aren't d…
Gold and crypto are hardly comparable. Start by factoring in all the crime & scams being done via crypto and you've got a general public practically begging for government intervention for cryptocurrencies.
10 years of debatable so-called-crimes with crypto VS at least 5000 years of wars, crimes and corruption with gold and government money...which side are we supposed to be on?
Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra
#328Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is exactly like the argument that electric cars aren't actually any better because grid electricity is not currently very green in most parts of the world. The response of course being that as the grid gets greener (which it does every year), your car becomes greener also. If you have a gasoline car, it will be just as dirty in 20 years as it is today. Same thing with crypto. Yes, currently a lot of people buy a…
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?
Because the government will not always be on your side, as 2020 demonstrated so well what many peoples outside the US have know from experience for decades.
Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra
#329Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, they really don't. Uninformed opinions will argue this because they're just that... uninformed. I'm sorry but no one who has studied economics will believe this there's zero evidence to support the idea a low-level of inflation is bad. There's only crackpots and idiots who don't have economics degrees, or even enough math to understand the fucking equations (which aren't hard but also don't always provide intuiti…
Not true at all. People, and state economists, have confused inflation and deflation so much for their propaganda that right now is almost imposible to have a discussion around it primarily because different people don't mean the same things when they use those words. Is the inflation you talk about consumer price inflation? is it assets price inflation? or is it money supply inflation? is the deflation caused by inc…
I believe we're discussing supply inflation.
Re: Diem – A rebrand of Facebook’s Libra
#330The core feature of any cryptocurrency is "money w/o state regulation", but when you're talking about selling it for any major currency (Dollars, Euros, Sterling, Yen, RMB) guess what, you're regulated. There is no way around this, regulators are wise (more than wise, hypervigilant) to it. As a result, this stuff is just cumbersome currency that roasts the planet. No thank you.
This is exactly like the argument that electric cars aren't actually any better because grid electricity is not currently very green in most parts of the world. The response of course being that as the grid gets greener (which it does every year), your car becomes greener also. If you have a gasoline car, it will be just as dirty in 20 years as it is today. Same thing with crypto. Yes, currently a lot of people buy a…
That might work, until you need to pay your tax bill. Or sell to the public sector. These are large parts of the economy! And for most people (I know mot everyone or everywhere), do you really want to manage accounts and deal with tax returns for multiple currencies when one already is accepted everywhere in town?