A GLOBAL DIGITAL currency would make sending money across the world as easy as texting. It would do away with fees, delays and other barriers to the flow of cash. It would give those in less developed countries access to the financial system and a way to protect hard-earned wages against runaway inflation. It could trigger a wave of innovation in finance, much like the internet did in online services.
So far, so familiar. Messenger already offers payments to Americans. WhatsApp is testing a similar function in India. But these services do not cross borders, and require users to have a bank account. Fintech firms like TransferWise, which offer international transfers to the banked, take a 4-5% cut to wire $200—a third less than Western Union but not nothing. Libra will be global and cheap, and require no bank accounts: more bitcoin than Venmo.
Technically and financially, Facebook could probably pull off such an ambitious undertaking on its own. Not politically. Its culture is more measured than it was in its early years, when it aspired to “move fast and break things”—but only a bit. Chary consumers may choose not to entrust their money to a social network which has, until recently, leaked their personal data left and right. Unless users appear on board, merchants may be reluctant to embrace the currency, however hassle-free.
To get Libra going, the consortium will pay merchants to offer discounts to customers who pay in the new currency, financed by a $10m one-off fee each member pays for a seat at the table. Eventually, Facebook would like anybody, not just the consortium, to be able to generate the currency, move it and offer services on top of its “blockchain” . At that point, Libra would truly turn into Bitcoin, minus the kinks and the libertarianism.With a project with so many moving parts, much can go wrong.
helenzille Helen I thought the people over at are a bunch of clueless hacks because they endorsed Cyril🤔
stevenmazie you know Libra is backed by the ethics of Uber, the centralization of VISA, the censorship resistance of PayPal, and the proven privacy & security of Facebook right? Zuckbucks isn’t scarce bitcoin is. ZuckBucks is a derivative of broken FIAT monetary policies
A wave of innovation in finance - triggered by bitcoin - has been 10 years in the making, gaining on momentum & mass. Libra is one of the ripples on the wave’s surface that may swell. But the innovation Libra brings is poised to do more harm than good. Libra is a Trojan horse.
However hard you try to ignore it, it was Bitcoin not Facebook who proved that there was a way of creating a digital store of value. FB coin is simply a digital coin that the world's financiers may accept as they have their chance to buy in for a tiny stake of just $10m
That wave was triggered 10 years ago. Making half-ass uninformed remarks like this puts you in the wrong side of history. I used to think that Economist was at least somewhat informed and was grounded. You make me question that belief more these days.
*Bitcoin and it was about 10 years ago
It's like Bitcoin! Except controlled by Suckerberg and therefore, the feds
Libra could trigger a wave of innovation... Bitcoin
Dear economist. You guys are stupid. Sincerely, the decentralized Bitcoin community.
Fuck the Economist. Keynesian times are over. Buy Bitcoin. Liberate yourself and protect your money from the reach of government or your wife/husband with a master seed and a passphrase. Financial independence is here today! Nobody can take your money!
Are you f*cking r3tarded? Satoshi Nakamoto created blockchain technology. Without Bitcoin there would be no Blockchain.
Oh gosh, you are waay waaay late to this party, and so is FB coin. Great work over-there!
Brilliant economic minds over there at
used to be a respected magazine, but now you just look foolish.
As long as it has **ZERO** to do with Facebook identities and the trove of data Facebook collects about people it actually doesn't sound horrific. On the other hand, why should all this transaction info be stuffed into a single account? Why Facebook?
Have your editors been asleep for the last 10 years? 😂 bitcoin
Really..sir are you under a rock from 2009
WTF? Libra wouldn't exist without bitcoin.
Wilful ignorance.
I think that was Bitcoin.
And its ded.
Econo-mist You know the word „mist“ in german means dirt - garbage... kinda like the information you spread...
It started with Bitcoin. It shall remain so.
I
The new wave was started years ago by Bitcoin. Wake up guys.
and once people realise they cant trust facebook here, they’ll hopefully trade it for some $btc
Now Facebook may need to open a virtual bank for all countries and allow deposits in respective countries' currencies. Then exchanging Libra in local currency and withdrawing money as per need would be possible. FB can be successful by limiting all its own transactions in Libra
Wrong, bitcoin did this. And, is unstoppable.
If you are looking for a gem, Look into peculium.100x gains are nothing with this one.
You should really consider changing the name of this magazine. The innovation happened a decade ago, you are just too far behind that the sound of the new wave traveled some time for you to hear it.
Bitcoin 10 years of innovation, what will it be in 11 years, still global, still no terms and conditions, no AML, no KYC, no stopping it. Libra in a year may go live in what, 20 countries, ECB will make sure none will be European, if it's still a thing then...
You mean like Bitcoin? Only your data gets raped and sold on the open market to companies and governments? Sign me the fuck down.
Nobody will trust them! Good luck
You guys are geniuses! ffs.
'could trigger a wave of innovation in finance'.... LOL!!!! Let me say you that Bitcoin exist 10 years ago... Genius.
Can someone explain to the economist the difference between innovation & invention please!
Innovation... what a positive word for a horrible development!
With FB in charge what could possibly go wrong? 😳
Innovation in finance 🤔 You mean more ways to create gains without actual work. Do you find any good in more nonsense with no value?
Anyone that would trust Facebook with even one byte is their financial information is nuts
Buy Bitcoin Buy Decred Buy Ethereum Buy Dogecoin Buy Litecoin DeleteFacebook
...but it won’t.
they already have digital currencies that do just that... have you ever heard of stellar lumens?
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