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Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

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Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#311

Post by snarf21 »

baby wrote: post #121
imw wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of interesting physics in building thermonuclear weapons. Doesn't mean you should do it. Your talents could be used to help the world. Instead, they are being used to enclose common spaces and pull apart the fabric of society. Get a better job?

I appreciate your point of view, FWIW I believe that I'm doing net positive work for the world. If you don't believe such projects should exist, you can at least agree that such project will inevitably happen and that it is a good thing that they have people like me onboard to influence them in the right direction. I will write more about the things I work on and why I think these are good things on my blog www.crypt…

It could be but it is not and won't be. Net positive would require actual decentralization and no PoS (rich get richer). There are other ways to solve consensus and I don't mean PoW. Net positive would be to not require AML or KYC. Net positive would be no transaction fees. The foundation members will still profit on the float on fiat. Also, this project already exists. Isn't this the whole reason Ripple was created? Why not adopt Ripple as the crypto? Oh, because it is all about control.

How is FB printing fake digital dollars any better than the US government printing fake digital dollars? Except this way, everyone gets to rent seek and take from the people they purport to want to help. Rent seeking less than Western Union doesn't count. How about a project that is actually about helping the unbanked and underrepresented without exploiting them? I'll believe that anyone on this project actually thinks it is net positive for the world when they donate their salary and RSU to a non-profit that is actually helping people.

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#313

Post by the_duke »

> Unlike previous stablecoins, Libra will not be issued by a central party. Instead, Facebook has enlisted 27 fellow Silicon Valley titans—among them PayPal, Visa, Spotify, Mastercard, Uber, and eBay ....

This really surprises me, since it is somewhat of a direct attack on Visa, Mastercard and Paypal. Maybe the thinking is that if Libra becomes a success, they'd rather be in on the deal, or they plan on becoming middleman and integrate it into their services.

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#314

Post by dboreham »

amasad wrote: post #226

Private money is not a new thing. In fact, the predecessor to paper money was retail bank issued notes. I think it's still the case in Scotland: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_Scotland The concept of nationalized central banks is new.

Confirm: still the case in Scotland.

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#315

Post by navigatesol »

the_duke wrote: post #290

I'd argue that credit cards are conceptually not very different. Users pay the fees both directly (annual costs, interest) and indirectly (increased prices due to vendor fees), and the shareholders reap the benefits. Just like credit cards, and the various digital currencies like Bitcoin (where exchanges have plenty of regulation and reporting requirements to deal with!), this will be subject to regulation and govern…

>Users pay the fees both directly (annual costs, interest)

Both avoidable. Many zero fee cards, interest only on monthly balances. Some zero fee cards even offer rewards (read: net positive over cash).

>indirectly (increased prices due to vendor fees)

I'd need to see some data that the convenience of credit cards to both consumer and retailer has increased prices. I do know that explicitly raising prices to cover fees for card using customers is against most merchant account terms of service and you can report retailers that do so.

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#316

Post by pier25 »

baby wrote: post #121
imw wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of interesting physics in building thermonuclear weapons. Doesn't mean you should do it. Your talents could be used to help the world. Instead, they are being used to enclose common spaces and pull apart the fabric of society. Get a better job?

I appreciate your point of view, FWIW I believe that I'm doing net positive work for the world. If you don't believe such projects should exist, you can at least agree that such project will inevitably happen and that it is a good thing that they have people like me onboard to influence them in the right direction. I will write more about the things I work on and why I think these are good things on my blog www.crypt…

> FWIW I believe that I'm doing net positive work for the world.

I'm sure most Facebook employees have a similar opinion on their jobs.

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#317

Post by snarf21 »

conanbatt wrote: post #257
thefounder wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need to sign up and verify your account before you can do anything. Think of this like paypal with blockchain behind the scenes instead of Oracle/Sql or whatever they use as db

Yes, but with pseudonimity. This makes it a lot more censorship resistant (which is PP's main weakness).

It is not pseudonymous. You must supply AML and KYC documents to FB to participate. FB says they intend to fully comply with all government requests. FB will know exactly who owns all the money at all times.

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#318

Post by nofunphil »

rootsudo wrote: post #280
nofunphil wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. What this does is create a wide open space for a "anti-establishment" crypto payments system. But one that people actually understand and trust. Fiat will likely be UOA for stage one of the transition to crypto. But as more people get educated we'll move to fully Open payments. Many will use Libra. But many will use other services. It's not binary. Multiple winners will emerge. Brand identity will be huge he…

I'm confused at the part of how is Facebook "Anti-establishment?"

No. FB is the establishment. Now that they've "opened" the crypto door a little wider, it creates the opportunity to build crypto payments that revolt against FB. Solution will likely involve privacy, responsibility, inclusiveness and charity.

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#319

Post by JumpCrisscross »

jerf wrote: post #277
renaudg wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is at least this from Zuckerberg's announcement : "Calibra will be regulated like other payment service providers. Any information you share with Calibra will be kept separate from information you share on Facebook."

I suspect they are using different definitions of "information", "share", "separate", "Calibra", and "Facebook" than a naive person reading that sentence might expect. I don't mean that as pure snark; I'm dead serious. The legal definition of all those things, the definitions they can get away with using, and the definitions that a normal person would expect from reading that sentence are probably three very differen…

> they are using different definitions

This is a PR statement. Facebook and Zuckerberg have straight up lied about this sort of thing before [1].

No need for complexity (they’re weaselling their words) when telling it simply (they’re lying again) will do.

[1] https://www.fastcompany.com/4017734/whatsapp-breaks-promise-...

Re: Facebook reveals its cryptocurrency Libra

#320

Post by dannyw »

jerf wrote: post #277
renaudg wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is at least this from Zuckerberg's announcement : "Calibra will be regulated like other payment service providers. Any information you share with Calibra will be kept separate from information you share on Facebook."

I suspect they are using different definitions of "information", "share", "separate", "Calibra", and "Facebook" than a naive person reading that sentence might expect. I don't mean that as pure snark; I'm dead serious. The legal definition of all those things, the definitions they can get away with using, and the definitions that a normal person would expect from reading that sentence are probably three very differen…

> information:

Personal information only, such as your full name.

Does not include an ID that facebook is able to link. Does not include your transactional "records", which are not information.

> kept separate:

Means it is stored a separate database, however it can be connected together.

> Facebook:

Refers to "Facebook Inc", but not "Instagram LLC". Instagram is authorized to share information with Facebook.

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