Facebook Announces Libra Cryptocurrency (fb.com) 219
Facebook has finally revealed the details of its cryptocurrency Libra. From a blog post: Today we're sharing plans for Calibra, a newly formed Facebook subsidiary whose goal is to provide financial services that will let people access and participate in the Libra network. The first product Calibra will introduce is a digital wallet for Libra, a new global currency powered by blockchain technology. The wallet will be available in Messenger, WhatsApp and as a standalone app -- and we expect to launch in 2020. [...] For many people around the world, even basic financial services are still out of reach: almost half of the adults in the world don't have an active bank account and those numbers are worse in developing countries and even worse for women. The cost of that exclusion is high -- approximately 70% of small businesses in developing countries lack access to credit and $25 billion is lost by migrants every year through remittance fees. This is the challenge we're hoping to address with Calibra, a new digital wallet that you'll be able to use to save, send and spend Libra.
From the beginning, Calibra will let you send Libra to almost anyone with a smartphone, as easily and instantly as you might send a text message and at low to no cost. And, in time, we hope to offer additional services for people and businesses, like paying bills with the push of a button, buying a cup of coffee with the scan of a code or riding your local public transit without needing to carry cash or a metro pass. When it launches, Calibra will have strong protections in place to keep your money and your information safe. We'll be using all the same verification and anti-fraud processes that banks and credit cards use, and we'll have automated systems that will proactively monitor activity to detect and prevent fraudulent behavior. We'll also offer dedicated live support to help if you lose your phone or your password -- and if someone fraudulently gains access to your account and you lose some Libra as a result, we'll offer you a refund. Facebook's currency is backed by more than two dozen companies ranging from Visa and Mastercard to Lyft and Spotify. Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft have not yet signed up. Banks decided not to join the starting roster because of uncertainties about regulation and concerns over logistical issues that could hamper take-up, Financial Times reported citing several industry executives. From the report: If successful, the project could dramatically reshape some corners of the finance industry, disintermediating payments platforms and stealing business from retail banks and fintech groups, particularly those that specialise in sending payments across borders. Jorn Lambert, executive vice-president for digital solutions at Mastercard, said he was not worried that fee-free transactions would threaten the payment card business. "It's an addition to what we do, not instead of what we do. It is not a zero-sum game. Today, 85 per cent of transactions are made in cash." It is unclear whether Libra will clear the steep hurdles needed to get off the ground, win over regulators, such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and be embraced, or strongly resisted, by the financial services industry. Central banks have already questioned the impact of company-created cryptocurrencies on financial stability. "We see hurdles to scale, we see hurdles to adoption, we see enough of this to decide that we would not participate in a scheme like this," said a senior payments executive at a large global bank.
From the beginning, Calibra will let you send Libra to almost anyone with a smartphone, as easily and instantly as you might send a text message and at low to no cost. And, in time, we hope to offer additional services for people and businesses, like paying bills with the push of a button, buying a cup of coffee with the scan of a code or riding your local public transit without needing to carry cash or a metro pass. When it launches, Calibra will have strong protections in place to keep your money and your information safe. We'll be using all the same verification and anti-fraud processes that banks and credit cards use, and we'll have automated systems that will proactively monitor activity to detect and prevent fraudulent behavior. We'll also offer dedicated live support to help if you lose your phone or your password -- and if someone fraudulently gains access to your account and you lose some Libra as a result, we'll offer you a refund. Facebook's currency is backed by more than two dozen companies ranging from Visa and Mastercard to Lyft and Spotify. Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft have not yet signed up. Banks decided not to join the starting roster because of uncertainties about regulation and concerns over logistical issues that could hamper take-up, Financial Times reported citing several industry executives. From the report: If successful, the project could dramatically reshape some corners of the finance industry, disintermediating payments platforms and stealing business from retail banks and fintech groups, particularly those that specialise in sending payments across borders. Jorn Lambert, executive vice-president for digital solutions at Mastercard, said he was not worried that fee-free transactions would threaten the payment card business. "It's an addition to what we do, not instead of what we do. It is not a zero-sum game. Today, 85 per cent of transactions are made in cash." It is unclear whether Libra will clear the steep hurdles needed to get off the ground, win over regulators, such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and be embraced, or strongly resisted, by the financial services industry. Central banks have already questioned the impact of company-created cryptocurrencies on financial stability. "We see hurdles to scale, we see hurdles to adoption, we see enough of this to decide that we would not participate in a scheme like this," said a senior payments executive at a large global bank.
where's the necessary? (Score:2)
"We have a shiny new currency" but nothing indicating how volatile it is, who can create more of it (and how), how liquid it is or indeed how the hell I use it to buy a pretty sea shell in Papua New Guinea.
Support from VISA/Mastercard suggests that there's been at least some thought in those areas but they're hardly building trust in their target markets.
Given it's Facebook you'd have thought they'd know they're starting from a position of strong distrust, something that tends to kill currencies.
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Thie whitepaper covers that:
>The association is the only party able to create (mint) and destroy (burn) Libra. Coins are only minted when authorized resellers have purchased those coins from the association with fiat assets to fully back the new coins. Coins are only burned when the authorized resellers sell Libra coin to the association in exchange for the underlying assets.
Though that can change:
>These activities of the association are governed and constrained by a Reserve Management Policy that can
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Thie whitepaper covers that:
>The association is the only party able to create (mint) and destroy (burn) Libra. Coins are only minted when authorized resellers have purchased those coins from the association with fiat assets to fully back the new coins. Coins are only burned when the authorized resellers sell Libra coin to the association in exchange for the underlying assets.
Though that can change: >These activities of the association are governed and constrained by a Reserve Management Policy that can only be changed by a supermajority of the association members.
So they set the price is it $US1 = libra or 1 euro = libra and then change it when you want to convert back all in their favour I think I'd rather trade bags of potatoes
if this is the case (Score:2)
As far as I can tell this zuckcoin has no value other than regulatory evasion, to enable fraud in a new domain of 'not-an-actual-bank-trading-not-an-actual-currency' so as to technically avoid those requirements, protections, a
what's the enforcement? (Score:2)
Who has the unique technical means and mechanisms to do those actions?
Facebook is a recidivist offender against public trust time and time again.
Let's take the US Federal Reserve and banking system. What prevents Wells Fargo (e.g.) from 'minting' new US Dollars in excess of their allowed quota (according to their reserves)? There are the intrusive
Zuckerberg gets control through weird stocks (Score:2)
>These activities of the association are governed and constrained
> by a Reserve Management Policy that can only be changed by a
> ***supermajority*** of the association members.
Wonder if Zuckerberg gets "controlling class B shares" with 10:1 power like in Facebook?
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When you're processing billions of transactions a day, a penny per transaction adds up fast.
When shit hits the fan (Score:4, Interesting)
I wonder where you'll go when the shit hits the fan. We read plenty of problems with people losing control of their Facebook or GMail accounts due to hacking or fraud. Currently, the megacorps just ignore the regular Joe Schmoe. They simply don't have a customer service to speak of.
That becomes a problem when someone takes control of your account and thus your crypto. With a bank, you can simply visit their office and have a chance to sort out a problem. And banks are often national, so you can lawyer up. As a European, I can't see myself lawyering up to distant Facebook if there's a weird account problem and they kicked me out of my crypto.
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And banks are often national, so you can lawyer up.
Aaw, how naive. That's cute...
Because you think banks are strictly national these days? Or that your two-bit solicitor is gonna win against their armies of overpaid attorneys?
Take it from me, you've never fought against a bank in court, because if you had, I can tell you you'd know you can't win.
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They will because Facebook will butter them up, and the IRS, and disclose everybody's transactions in full detail with them. It's amazing what you can get away with when you play ball.
Re: When shit hits the fan (Score:2)
Private currencies have been around in the U.S. for longer than there's been a U.S. They are common and legal.
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There is no rule against "private money". Many regions in the US have private money. Crypto or paper is irrelevant.
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...the Federal Reserve is the only one authorized to print money
Actually, not really. [wikipedia.org]
The US Federal Reserve is the only entity allowed to print money recognized by the United States government, but not the only ones allowed to control what is and is not money within the United States. ...and I haven't even brought up casino chips (which are perfectly usable as currency for a surprising number of things while you're on that casino's property.)
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and I haven't even brought up casino chips
Nor bank loans.
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Take it from me, you've never fought against a bank in court, because if you had, I can tell you you'd know you can't win. In Germany people regularly win against banks, no idea what you are smoking.
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That's exactly what the parent said. He thinks he has a chance to have a legal recourse against a bank just because it has a branch in his country. Can't you read?
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No, not a branch. It's actually founded and headquartered in my country. Now it could very well be that legally, it's not actually in my country at all, I don't know about that. But between Facebook in distant USA and a bank in my country, I like the latter chance of getting justice served.
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My point is that, as a non-1%er (I'm assuming), you have practically zero chances of getting justice served against either.
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Unfortunate naming (Score:4, Informative)
"Libra" is the Spanish name for the British pound. No possibility for confusion at all...
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Currency names of often a bit confused. The United Kingdom Pound Sterling is referred to variously as Pounds, Sterling, UKP and GBP, and that's just by British people. Dollar is another classic, often refers to US currency but actually there are many different dollars.
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It's not renaming, it's translating. "Libra" is the Spanish (and Latin) word for "pound", the unit of mass which gave name to the coin.
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...hence "lb" as a common abbreviation.
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English and Spanish both suck planets through pipettes. English never met a loan word it didn't like, and Spanish never failed to make something confusing or complicated in stead of simply using one.
Let Facebook control your money (Score:2, Insightful)
what could possibly go wrong?
What's Scarier: Banning Users or Not Banning Users (Score:2, Interesting)
What will be scarier? When FB bans financial services for users it dislikes, or when it does not ban services for users we dislike? How many people does the US already prevent us from trading/sharing with? Cubans? North Koreans? Dissidents? Anarchists? How many already disenfranchised people will be further hurt by their inability to use this service?
Re:What's Scarier: Banning Users or Not Banning Us (Score:5, Interesting)
No, the scariest thing is when people who choose not to do Facebook (engage in Facebook social media bullshit, spend Facebook money..) are seen as suspicious, and/or don't have access to certain services, and/or are at a disadvantage compared to normal social media idiots.
It's already the case: apply for a job today, depending on what type of job you're pursuing, there's a fair chance you may be asked why nothing comes up when the recruitment agency googles up your name - or worse, that they don't call you back at all because you're below the radar on the internet and that ain't "normal".
Sadly, these shenanigans are gonna get worse before they get better.
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No, the scariest thing is when people who choose not to do Facebook (engage in Facebook social media bullshit, spend Facebook money..) are seen as suspicious [...]
It's already the case: apply for a job today, depending on what type of job you're pursuing, there's a fair chance you may be asked why nothing comes up when the recruitment agency googles up your name
Would it count to have one's own website, a microblog on Twitter, or a GitLab or GitHub account with several active public repositories? I have all of the above, visible to Google Search. Yet I have no Facebook account.[1] By the time The Facebook opened in second quarter 2004, I'd already graduated and lost my .edu email address, which was required at the time.
[1] Other than the shadow profile that it gleans from others' contacts and views of its Like button on articles I read.
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a microblog on Twitter
So you are into "Social media bullshit". You're nothing like what the OP was talking about.
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There are many many people who don't use facebook.
From my school class of 70 alumni, only 3 use it.
And the young kids don't use it either, they use twitter and tmblr and instagram (yes, I know it belongs to facebook).
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
just what we need (Score:5, Insightful)
as if facebook doesn't spy on you enough, now they want full insight into your financials.
ofcourse the service is free, just like facebook is, but we all know by now what the actual price is we pay for their services.
the sad thing is that this will probably take off and be the first cryptocurrency that will be mass used, just because facebook will put all its weight behind it and most people will find it convenient (look, it's build right into the app(s)!)
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as if facebook doesn't spy on you enough, now they want full insight into your financials. ofcourse the service is free, just like facebook is, but we all know by now what the actual price is we pay for their services.
No, "we" all don't know. 5% of the population knows. The other 95% of the population doesn't even fucking care to know. If they did care, Facebook would already be dead by now.
the sad thing is that this will probably take off and be the first cryptocurrency that will be mass used, just because facebook will put all its weight behind it and most people will find it convenient (look, it's build right into the app(s)!)
Sad? You're not thinking about the true danger here. Looking at what the government has done to prop up the USD and the blind voracious popularity of Facebook products. What makes you think Libra couldn't work to replace the USD? What, you think Zuckerberg is powerless in politics? Yeah right. He's a gift from the Gods for the
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Serious Question: I'm not against digital currency per se. But the implementations to date are just plain silly -- resource hungry, unsafe, prone to evaporate, with high transaction fees, seemingly useful mostly for criminal activity, and apparently supported mostly by happy thoughts.
Will Facebook be able to somehow get around those problems?
BTW, I don't have a Facebook account and don't plan to get one any time soon.
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Street trade insurance is enforced by fists to get cash back. Wire and Conference room trade that is reputation because the class has to be able to engage with all peers equally or there is significant daily friction keeping track of who is owed what and blocked
Better name: "ZuckerBucks"! (Score:4, Funny)
Antitrust? (Score:4)
Where's the antitrust in all of this? FB is pretty much a monopoly in social media (yes it is, even though there are other platforms - if you disagree, look to saner countries definitions of "monopoly"). They're using that dominance to muscle into another market.
This would/will be immediately into litigation in Europe, and probably numerous other countries. America probably won't do much about it though. Either way, it probably won't be quite so "across borders" as it sounds - quite a few borders won't allow it (as proposed, at least).
All that aside, let's just say this becomes a thing. Who do you trust with your money? Facebook, your bank, Mastercard/Visa/Amex or your own wallet? Personally, I'd put FB at the bottom of that list - possibly because I can already "pay bills at the touch of a button", and FB seems to leak data on a regular basis.
However this turns out - the future of it is already described in the very announcement: "When it launches, Calibra will have strong protections in place to keep your money and your information safe". After launch though, we'll slacken off once we've got "mindshare" and any lock-in we can muster.
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They're using that dominance to muscle into another market.
That's not illegal. It's also not illegal to be a monopoly. It is illegal to be a monopoly and use specific techniques.
Antitrust (Score:5, Interesting)
Isn't leveraging a social media platform with 3 billion users to introduce your own payments network the very definition of illegal abuse of a monopoly?
Will the new Facebook app include a miner? (Score:2)
Will the new Facebook app include a currency miner?
Silly question, of course it will. Yes, you can bet that the new update to your Facebook app will add code to mine Libra coins on your phone, using your battery and your computing power.
I'm also taking bets on just how soon there will be a breach or hack of Facebook's system related to the cryptocurrency. Current odds put it within the next 60 days. Gentlemen, start your engines!
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Real talk (Score:5, Informative)
The problem with this is that it does not actually solve any problems in FB’s press statement. For people living in the developed world, holding Libra instead of cash is actually a negative as the local prices denominated in dollars, euros, pounds or whatever will move relative to your Libra holdings. This is an unnecessary currency risk. The majority of your assets shouldn’t be in cash anyway.
It also does not solve anything for developing countries, because the multinational Facebook will have to follow the same anti-money laundering and know-your-customer regulations as any other bank. Sending money from U.S. to Columbia and vice versa is not expensive because J.P. Morgan can’t figure out how to change a few values in a database. This same issue will persist with Libra, unless Facebook somehow intends to skit regulations by pretending that they are not a bank or a payment processor.
This is just an ETF with branding. Not more, not less. Needless to say, if you are actually a crypto fan, this is relevant to your interests in name only.
Re:Real talk (Score:4, Insightful)
Sending money from U.S. to Columbia and vice versa is not expensive because J.P. Morgan canâ(TM)t figure out how to change a few values in a database.
Right, it's because the banks are an effective cartel, and they all overcharge for that. It's not difficult to comply with the reporting regulations.
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It's not difficult to comply with the reporting regulations.
I believe you only think this because you are ignoring second-order effects. If anyone tries to "go cheap" on the reporting, they will immediately get exploited by money laundering and see their cost skyrocket when the cops show up. I think the expense isn't so much in the reporting itself, but in demonstrating that you are not also a criminal when someone uses your service for money laundering -- which really makes you look like a criminal because you are making money from processing every bit of those
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unless Facebook somehow intends to skirt regulations by pretending that they are not a bank or a payment processor.
Why is there any reason to believe that isn't the plan? Facebook's legal record to date is basically putting out pretend privacy policies, and then violating, changing, or ignoring them at will and the pretending it was unintentional. This is the new way to success... construct a system in which illegal behavior is indistinguishable from incompetent behavior and then fake marginal competence until your service becomes big enough that you can bog down any litigation as a cost of doing business. Maybe thi
Re:Real talk (Score:4, Informative)
Why is this informative? It is entirely wrong. Wish I had mod points to drop it's rating.
Here's a quick summary of the most important points [soylentnews.org]
Why crypto? (Score:2)
They do not want to replace bitcoin, they want to replace PayPal. Why crypto, then? Just to get backers with the magic word?
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Yes. Duh.
Launching some sort of fiat currency, what investor gives a shit if you can't slap "blockchain" onto it? Investors understand money, but they don't know jack shit about computers, so guess with what you can bullshit them into giving you money?
Why not? (Score:2)
They should've called them Facebucks. (Score:4, Funny)
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Why a new currency? (Score:2)
There is a real need for a low-cost international money transfer system, but why does there have to be a new currency associated with it? If I send $200 in birthday money to a relative in Europe, it currently costs me $40 in bank fees. Cash transfer apps like Venmo and Square are domestic only. I tried PayPal's new international transfer system, but apparently it only works with certain banks in certain countries.
FB should concentrate on the transfer system, not on setting up yet another cryptocurrency. Yes
Wow a currency with ... (Score:5, Funny)
Let's combine:
The privacy of Facebook
The security of VISA
The ethics of Uber
Gee, this is going to be swell!
Don't Let a Consortium Deny You (Score:2)
Don't fall into their control trap. They don't care about developing countries. They don't care about women. They don't care about people with bad/no credit. They care about control.
The key question is trust (Score:2)
The key element with every fiat currency is trust. Let's be honest here, a 100 dollar bill is essentially worthless. Its value comes from the fact that people trust that bill to be worth 100 dollars. And as long as I can trust that there will be someone who gives me something worth 100 dollars for a 100 dollar bill, as long this bill will have its value. Whether that fiat currency is paper with funny faces on it, maybe even in multiple colors, whether it's some plastic chips or nice looking stones, or even
The "mark" coin (Score:2)
So a payment app? (Score:2)
So, Facebook is going to slowly inflate the currency because it will have a monopolistic control over the platform. People will buy into the currency, transferring cash in exchange for the currency. As the currency thins out, the cost per
Why do I want to use this again? (Score:2)
I'm curious how Facebook is going to convince me that using Libra for my day to day transactions is going to be a good idea.
Are they going to give me a discount on the products that I buy if I choose it as a payment method?
Are they going to give all of us with established Facebook/Instagram/Whatsapp accounts $20 worth of Libra to try it out? If so, how are they going to prevent people from gaming that and creating a 100 Facebook accounts under different e-mail addresses?
One Question (Score:3)
Can Facebook, Visa, Mastercard, the US government, or another entity seize, block, undo, or destroy my funds or transactions?
If so, then I'm not interested. When I send money to Wikileaks I want it to go to Wikileaks. If I receive a payment for something I don't want that payment charged back. Those reasons are why I use BTC.
Better have the correct political opinion (Score:2)
I am sure the fine print allows facebook to deny service to those they deem as "haters" or "conspiracy theorists" i.e. moderate conservatives.
Trust Facebook, ... with money, ... (Score:2)
The exercise is repeated until the lesson is learned.
Nope. Next! (Score:2)
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Re:are there any tech details? (Score:5, Interesting)
"distributed verification of the transactions" IS the mining.
Show me where the distributed verification of transactions is occurring in this Libra.
(Distributed within Facebook doesn't count as distributed).
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If Facepalm is involved, it is possibly a kleptocurrency, but more probably a Crapto Currency,
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"I took their point to be that without independent robust verification, provided by miners, it isn't secure."
So, klepto-currency rather than crypto-currency?
Re: are there any tech details? (Score:5, Informative)
The only reason to create your own crypto coin is so you can mine it ahead of time and be the only miner if you want.
Why else do you think there are thousands of coins? It is to remove the distribution of the miner so the 51% rule applies to you.
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The only reason to create your own crypto coin is so you can mine it ahead of time and be the only miner if you want.
Its not the ONLY reason, but it is clearly FB's reason. Traditional cryptocurrencies are not controlled by a centralized party, but this effectively will be.
That means that the small number of entities allowed to run nodes and the network have likely built backdoor facilities into the coin which allow them to do things that would not be allowed in a proper secure and decentralized crypto
Re: are there any tech details? (Score:5, Interesting)
Sounds like what banks did pre-1929. Have almost no actual currency in reserve, so depositors were SOL if more than a very few wanted to get their money out. This worked perfectly until there was a run on the bank, before the bank failed, then it all collapsed until FDR put in the Federal insurance system and banking regulations requiring banks to have a reserve on hand.
Cryptocurrencies, even stablecoins, are too easy to manipulate, especially if one party has control of the blockchain. Since FB is pre-mining all the coins, how can I be assured that FB doesn't just "run the printing press" and destroy the value of existing coins? Even if were a stablecoin, there are no laws against FB saying it is redeemable for a Euro... but in reality, it is hoped that people trade their RL currencies for the cryptocurrency, then at some point, FB can easily drop the currency, making away with a ton of actual money, while leaving people with something absolutely worthless.
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Is there any way we could get FB to overextend itself, then put them out of business with a run on their coin?
Re: are there any tech details? (Score:4, Interesting)
Sounds like what banks did pre-1929. Have almost no actual currency in reserve, so depositors were SOL if more than a very few wanted to get their money out.
Pretty sure reserve requirements for savings accounts were higher in 1929 than today. Fun fact: the reserve requirement for savings accounts today is 0. Yup, 0. We're not a fractional reserve banking system any more, we're a zero reserve banking system.
The change was the creation of the FDIC, not reserve requirements.
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Fun fact: the reserve requirement for savings accounts today is 0. Yup, 0. We're not a fractional reserve banking system any more, we're a zero reserve banking system.
The regulation requires depository institutions to keep cash reserves in order to meet immediate withdrawals against their transaction accounts.
Those reserve requirements apply to Net Transaction Accounts, which are primarily checking accounts. There are no minimum reserve requirements in the United States for savings accounts or time deposit accounts (CDs). According to the Federal Reserve's page on Reserve Requirements [federalreserve.gov]:
The dollar amount of a depository institution's reserve requirement is determined by applying the reserve ratios specified in the Federal Reserve Board's Regulation D to an institution's reservable liabilities (see table of reserve requirements). Reservable liabilities consist of net transaction accounts, nonpersonal time deposits, and Eurocurrency liabilities. Since December 27, 1990, nonpersonal time deposits and Eurocurrency liabilities have had a reserve ratio of zero.
Total transaction accounts consists of demand deposits, automatic transfer service (ATS) accounts, NOW accounts, share draft accounts, telephone or preauthorized transfer accounts, ineligible bankers acceptances, and obligations issued by affiliates maturing in seven days or less. Net transaction accounts are total transaction accounts less amounts due from other depository institutions and less cash items in the process of collection.
It is a fact that actual reserve ratios today are less than the reserve ratios typical during the Free Banking era, prior to the creation of the FDIC. Under Free Banking, the failure of a bank to hold sufficient reserves to meet de
Re:are there any tech details? (Score:5, Informative)
The difference between this and WoW gold is the scale. Many, many people already have a FB account. And unlike Blizzard, FB sees this as part of their core business so they are interested in setting up the required infrastructure, oversight, guarantees, getting bank licenses where required, setting up ways that people from Belgium to Russia to Uganda have some means to convert this coin into their local currency and back, and so on. It's not tied to a particular platform like Android or Apple payment systems. In other words, it's a great idea... except that it's run by Facebook. So thanks, but no thanks.
Except it's not run by Facebook.
https://libra.org/en-US/association-council-principles/#overview
Overview: The Association & Council
The Libra Association is an independent, Swiss not-for-profit organization with the mission to empower billions of people through the creation of a simple global currency and financial infrastructure. The association membership is made up of the validator nodes of the Libra network. Initially, these are global companies, social impact partners (SIPs), and academic institutions — the Libra Association's Founding Members. Eventually, the association will include any entity that operates a validator node and holds sufficient stake in Libra.
The association's role is to coordinate among the validator nodes the efforts to develop and secure the network and to promote their joint vision of financial inclusion. The two main areas of coordination and governance are 1) technical: drive toward alignment among the validator nodes and open-source community around the network's technical roadmap; and 2) financial: manage the reserve and allocate funds to social-impact causes (more below).
The governing body of the Libra Association is the Libra Association Council, which is comprised of a representative of each member of the association. Operating and policy decisions of the council require various voting thresholds depending on the importance of the decision.
A note on Facebook, Inc.'s role — Facebook teams played a key role in the creation of the Libra Association and the Libra Blockchain, working with the other Founding Members. While final decision-making authority rests with the association, Facebook is expected to maintain a leadership role through 2019. Facebook created Calibra, a regulated subsidiary, to ensure appropriate separation between social and financial data and to build and operate services on its behalf on top of the Libra network. Once the Libra network launches, Facebook, and its affiliates, will have the same commitments, privileges, and financial obligations as any other Founding Member. As one member among many, Facebook's role in governance of the association will be equal to that of its peers.
Re:are there any tech details? (Score:4, Interesting)
What isn't clear is how they intend to make money. They talk about having big real asset reserves to back up the cryptocurrency, and validator nodes run by various companies, but what is the financial incentive for putting all those resources into it?
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Seems like yet another ploy to force more people onto Spybook. Their hope is that it gains widespread adoption to the point where not using it will make your life difficult. At that point, you will be forced to surrender yourself to Spybook. The fact that they would be able to spy on millions of transactions, incrementally building their stalking profiles, is just the icing on the cake.
Re:are there any tech details? (Score:5, Insightful)
The incentive isn't financial, it's control. Once you get enough people relying on your platform to conduct their personal financial transactions, where else are they going to go?
It also exerts a higher level of leverage on those users. Right now, if you go to FB jail, so what? The worst that happens is that you pop a duplicate account, use some other app to keep in touch, or you just go do something else with your spare time for 7 to 30 days or whatever.
With this system, once you're sucked-in, if you go to FB jail, your money is now at stake (oh, that won't ever happen, you say? Ask anyone whose bank account is tied to PayPal, then has run afoul of PayPal by glitch or mismanagement). That's a hell of a lot more power than I'd ever want to see Zucc's company have at its command...
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Interestingly they claim that they will abide by local financial regulations, so it seems like they expect to be further regulated if this ever takes off. Presumably they will end up mostly like PayPal, a not-a-bank bank-like bank that steals people's money.
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Banking licence to offer certain financial services. It isn't a bank though, and you will note (from your own link) that it moved to Luxembourg to avoid proper regulation in the UK.
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The Libra Association is an independent, Swiss not-for-profit organization with the mission to empower billions of people
Are there millions of Facebook shareholders?
Re:are there any tech details? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm fully confident this Libra governing body will be as free from Facebook's influence as Huawei is from the Chinese government.
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Drat, and here's me with no mod points. A virtual +1 to you, gentleperson!
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Mining, and more spectifically proof of work, is the innovation that solves the double spend problem. Please go and think about this a bit more.
Proof of work is extremely inefficient, and only necessary if you need completely decentralised consensus. I can only assume the Facebook will want to keep control of their coin so they will have no need for proof of work mining. In a centralised system all you need is a database, which should of course have redundancy; distributed verification of transactions; cryp
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Blockchains are a completely different entity from proof of work. If I check in code into my Git repository using `git commit -a -S -m 'same day, different bug'`, the signed commits are technically a blockchain.
What would be nice is to move to different proof concept. It would be nice to see proof of storage, or perhaps proof of running protein folding tasks, just so the CPU cycles burned are doing something other than adding to the universe's total entropy.
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Blockchains are a completely different entity from proof of work.
Right, blockchains (biased/linearized Merkle trees) are nothing special. While the industry has seemingly latched on to the blockchain buzzword, the innovative part of Bitcoin wasn't the blockchain at all but rather a solution for the distributed Byzantine consensus problem, which is proof of work.
What would be nice is to move to different proof concept. It would be nice to see proof of storage, or perhaps proof of running protein folding tasks...
Different forms of distributed consensus have been proposed, but so far none of them have been demonstrated to have the necessary properties to replace proof of work. What is needed is a task which is difficult to
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Yep. Just another way for Facebook to track you.
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The difference between this and WoW gold is the scale. Many, many people already have a FB account. And unlike Blizzard,
Not to mention, Facebook has already made connections with a bunch of banks, who are paying to be part of this plan.
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More to the point, WoW or any other MMORPG funny money has no real world value. The game developer can rebase it, destroy it, or create it in infinite amounts. There is no "tracking ledger" to it.
Not sure what you mean by "tracking ledger", as Blizzard certainly keeps track, and otherwise it's structurally no more "funny money" than any fiat currency. It's been quite a poor store of value as its exchange rate against the dollar just gets worse and worse, but there are government currencies that have fared far worse.
There's no real world value to bitcoin unless there is someone willing to buy it, and really, nobody is willing to buy it at any price, because someone inevitably will be holding onto worthless bitcoins of no value at the end.
Bitcoin started to grow when you could buy drugs with it. It exploded to it current price when folks discovered you could use it to smuggle money across national borders. Capital fligh
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Pills? More like pads. (Score:2)
In Australia, Libra is one of the most popular brands of "female sanitary products", i.e. tampons, menstrual pads, panty liners, etc. I'm not sure that's what they wanted to be associated with.
Re:Pills? More like pads. (Score:5, Funny)
In Australia, Libra is one of the most popular brands of "female sanitary products", i.e. tampons, menstrual pads, panty liners, etc.
Well, since Mark Zuckerberg is such a Royal Douche-Bag . . . it fits very well.
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"It’s amazing certain things, I mean, but it’s great to be in this country. You have freedoms. You know you can say anything you want, you can do anything you want. Certain freedom I had no idea about. I walked into a store first time, I saw this box. It says New Freedom. And I said to myself: “What a Country!” Freedom in a box! I bought fifteen of them. If any of you need some, I still have it, I had no idea what those things are but – Super Maxi. I figured I should get as muc
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I'd be surprised if you could buy anything with Libra. Sure, you will be able to purchase LibraPretendFacebookBitcoins... but as for exchanging them for anything else... that remains to be seen.
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How to force Whatsapp user to authenticate with real name, surname, birthdate, phone number and tax id?
By giving each payee the option to either provide PII or return a Libra payment to the sender.
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Mark of the best by Mark, the beast.
Catchy little phrase, there.