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Facebook Is Developing a Cryptocurrency for WhatsApp Transfers, Sources Say

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Re: Facebook Is Developing a Cryptocurrency for WhatsApp Transfers, Sources Say

#21

Post by mihaifm »

tempsafdjla wrote: post #5

this make zero sense. are they going to let anyone mine the coins? probably not. if its just them mining it, then its totally pointless.

stablecoins aren’t mined, they are created by the issuer at their discretion. Technically they should create a coin for every deposited dollar, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Tether or other stablecoins run a fractional reserve scheme behind the scenes.

Re: Facebook Is Developing a Cryptocurrency for WhatsApp Transfers, Sources Say

#22

Post by ramontayag »

tzfld wrote: post #17
bhalperin wrote: post #3

Call it a “cryptocurrency” if that makes it sound sexy, but this is still centralized — it’s effectively the same as the (already existing) Messenger Payments.

TBH at this point I have more trust in a centralized cryptocurrency backed by a large corporation than in a decentralized one.

Trust in it to do/be what?

Re: Facebook Is Developing a Cryptocurrency for WhatsApp Transfers, Sources Say

#23

Post by davnicwil »

tzfld wrote: post #17
bhalperin wrote: post #3

Call it a “cryptocurrency” if that makes it sound sexy, but this is still centralized — it’s effectively the same as the (already existing) Messenger Payments.

TBH at this point I have more trust in a centralized cryptocurrency backed by a large corporation than in a decentralized one.

Why is that? And what's a centralised cryptocurrency?

Re: Facebook Is Developing a Cryptocurrency for WhatsApp Transfers, Sources Say

#24

Post by polyomino »

As they are trying to build an economy, they will have to bring both consumers and merchants to their platform. Exposing a bunch of people to new money is not enough, they need to be able to buy something useful with it.

Facebook will have to build something that its users want to buy, and then find something for the users to do to earn fbcoin.

Maybe they could allow ads to be purchased in fbcoin, and pay users to translate ads to their native language for fbcoin.

Re: Facebook Is Developing a Cryptocurrency for WhatsApp Transfers, Sources Say

#25

Post by scalesolved »

tzfld wrote: post #17
bhalperin wrote: post #3

Call it a “cryptocurrency” if that makes it sound sexy, but this is still centralized — it’s effectively the same as the (already existing) Messenger Payments.

TBH at this point I have more trust in a centralized cryptocurrency backed by a large corporation than in a decentralized one.

Could you expand on this?

Re: Facebook Is Developing a Cryptocurrency for WhatsApp Transfers, Sources Say

#26

Post by viach »

pqs wrote: post #19

Why can't they just use a good old database, to record transactions? It is a centralized system! I guess Facebook trusts itself!

But do you trust Facebook? Also, regarding the "trust itself" part, it's not necessarily the case. How can one make sure database admin haven't changed some records?

Re: Facebook Is Developing a Cryptocurrency for WhatsApp Transfers, Sources Say

#27

Post by zelly »

Knew this would happen one day. Big tech has 0 reason to use third party coins when they do literally everything in house. FacebookCoin, AmazonCoin, etc., will work 100x better too—not just technologically but also in interopability with current banking infrastructure and government regulators. Decentralization is objectively worse for user experience all around. If a centralized trusted authority like the FED or a FANG corporation could make electronic cash, then people will happily use that because they don’t care about privacy or cypherpunk ideals.

Zero reason for anyone to use Bitcoin/Ethereum/Monero when these exist. (Unless they want to commit crimes—and yes, that’s how it would be perceived.)

Re: Facebook Is Developing a Cryptocurrency for WhatsApp Transfers, Sources Say

#28

Post by m-i-l »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #12
tempsafdjla wrote: post #5

this make zero sense. are they going to let anyone mine the coins? probably not. if its just them mining it, then its totally pointless.

On the contrary. If facebook controls minting the coins but can't control transactions using the coins, it'd be perfect, much better than the decentralized cryptocoins we have today. It would instantly bypass state controls on money transmission. They'd probably run into trouble cashing out their coins in that case, though.

I'd rather have state control over money than for-profit megacorps, especially one with such an appalling reputation as "They 'trust me', dumb f---s" F--ebook. This is one of the issues they're finding with the move to a cashless society in the Nordic countries[0], i.e. the monopoly over money moving from the state to the private sector.

[0] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/11/sweden-cashless-socie...

Re: Facebook Is Developing a Cryptocurrency for WhatsApp Transfers, Sources Say

#29

Post by zelly »

empath75 wrote: post #8

Super skeptical about this story. Why should they bother instead of just using regular banking or keeping their own ledger.

To steal the Bitcoin/Ethereum market share. It doesn’t need to be better. People just need to think it is. That’s the reason buzzwords and marketing exists.
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