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Calibra – Digital Wallet for Libra

calibra.com

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Re: Calibra – Digital Wallet for Libra

#32
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tried to do the same in a tourist city (not a tier 1 city), beginning of May, didn't work. I wanted a full SIM, not a data only SIM though, which one did you get? You just got unlucky... I bought one recently at China Mobile (Shenzhen). They do ask for passport and it takes about 10 minutes.

Both Beijing and Shenzen are Tier 1. And again, a full SIM or a data only SIM?

Full SIM. I'm fairly sure you got unlucky with that particular shop. I've been living in China for about a decade and never heard such a thing (passport was not even required a while back).

Re: Calibra – Digital Wallet for Libra

#33
So the GAFAM wants to get independant from the banks. Great.

But they don't want to be controled by anything, or share the power, or make it fair, or good for humanity.

So they call it a cryptocoin, yet it's locked in and centralized.

I'm all for taking power from the bank, giving more power to the Silicon Valley is a terrible idea.

Re: Calibra – Digital Wallet for Libra

#35
post #22
post #11

From the FAQ: > Question: How will you prevent fraud? > Anwer: All accounts and transactions are verified, and fraud prevention is built in throughout the app. Accounts are verified with government-issued ID, so you know people are who they say they are. Facebook and WhatsApp account information are also used when available to verify identity and prevent fraud. Calibra also has in-app reporting and dedicated customer…

You don't need to ask Facebook permission to transfer the money, but they reserve the right to intervene if you commit fraud. That's why they are using a blockchain. The governments will love it because it allows for perfect surveillance, the people will love it because it makes international payments seamless, it can erase the predatory remittance business out of existence. If they can convince merchants to accept i…

How is that different from transferring money through a bank?

I can understand the benefit of this from the standpoint that it will be essentially a global currency, which will reduce transfer times and just generally make it easier to send money, however I don't understand why a blockchain is involved. We already have similar solutions (Paypal, Transferwise etc), is blockchain just a way to market this thing?

Re: Calibra – Digital Wallet for Libra

#36
post #9

> Imagine if cash became digital. Been there, in China, with Alipay. Absolutely no way for an EU person to pay with it: doesn't accept European phone number for sign up and since the end of 2018 one can not get a proper Chinese SIM with a passport. Don't touch cash. That's the only fallback we have for outages, when someone is without data connection (ghasp!) or for scenarios where politics or decisions make it impos…

Digital payment is now almost ubiquitous in India also. But, I still always carry cash with me, because of sketchy data network in crowded areas(including my workplace). All digital payment system in India requires data connection on payer phone.

Re: Calibra – Digital Wallet for Libra

#37
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need to ask Facebook permission to transfer the money, but they reserve the right to intervene if you commit fraud. That's why they are using a blockchain. The governments will love it because it allows for perfect surveillance, the people will love it because it makes international payments seamless, it can erase the predatory remittance business out of existence. If they can convince merchants to accept i…

How is that different from transferring money through a bank? I can understand the benefit of this from the standpoint that it will be essentially a global currency, which will reduce transfer times and just generally make it easier to send money, however I don't understand why a blockchain is involved. We already have similar solutions (Paypal, Transferwise etc), is blockchain just a way to market this thing?

Banks transfers take longer, banks transfers cost money and international banks transfers outside of SEPA network are a nightmare and they can get blocked/stalled for odd reasons.

Blockhain is a technical convenience - the Libra Association consists of 28 members. Everybody is more comfortable with money being stored on the public ledger rather than on a database server owned by Facebook. Blockchain is useful in cases where a collaborative/adversarial relationship exists between multiple parties. In this case this is regulators, governments, Libra association members and users. Blockchain keeps everybody honest, compliant and ensures data integrity.

It also removes some of legal responsibility from Facebook because they don't actually process the transactions themselves, it's peer 2 peer.

Re: Calibra – Digital Wallet for Libra

#38

> "In the rare event of unauthorized fraud, you will receive a full refund." How?

Presumably by giving your money back to you. That's generally how a refund works. Did you have something else in mind?

That would mean they are an intermediary in the blockchain.

Re: Calibra – Digital Wallet for Libra

#39
What's the use case for it? It looks like the point is to send money from people to people easily. But how about businesses? Currently I can pay with Contactless in shops, and on online services, paying by debit/credit card is straightforward. So I'm not seeing exactly what it will be used for.
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