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Michael's avatar

The secondary Calibra transaction layer seems like they pulled some of the ideas off the way the Lightning Network and Lightning Protocol are building on top of Bitcoin to reduce congestion, but with Facebook, instead of being a means of efficiency, it sounds like they'll use it to control their own sub-economy. You can almost see a Black Mirror-esque scenario where Facebook rewards engaged users with crypto as a way to keep the feedback loop going. Personally, I ditched Instagram and WhatsApp once rumors of FB creating a shared back-end started circulating. I'm only using FB so the family can see photos of the kids; otherwise, I'd drop it.

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Azeem Azhar's avatar

Yes, you can see the inspiration from Lightning and it makes sense.

Also, hard to see how Facebook won't use Calibra as a technique to reinforce use within its ecosystem.

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praxis22's avatar

Izzy Kaminska has a cogent take on this over at FTAlphaville http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2019/06/21/1561127474000/Why-closed-loop-systems-like-Libra-won-t-change-the-world-/ Personally I just think this is direct monetisation, a landgrab. But then I'm not on Facebook and don't get a say.

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Azeem Azhar's avatar

Yes. Libra's policies will be made by a 100-member governance foundation, where Facebook will only control 1% of the votes. So how is Facebook going to persuade the other 99% to follow the diabolical scheme she lays out?

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praxis22's avatar

I don't think it's diabolical, she's just talking about systematic issues, far beyond and above most of the other commentary I've seen. What happens if this succeeds? I've always been deeply skeptical of the motives and ideology behind "bitcoin" by which I mean all algorithmic/mined cryptocurrencies. I'm 15-20 years into studying economics, and 40+ years in to "playing" with computers. I don't do internet banking, because I understand computers cannot/should not be trusted. Not with anything you want to keep. I want government regulation and oversight over any bank I'm going to use. Not an EULA.

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Jo Jones's avatar

Really enjoyed that thank you

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Ussal Sahbaz's avatar

Azeem, great commentary, thank you... I think one critical point is how much Western centric the governance is. As far as I can count, there are 33 US-based organizations, 4 EU (including the UK), 1 Argentina and 1 South Africa. This is certainly not inclusive.

I am also wondering whether the Foundation will invest in Renminbi-based assets. It was a big deal to get Chinese included in the IMF's SDR basket. A good conversation topic for dinner at the G20 summit in Japan next week. :)

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Maxime Guilbot's avatar

Thank you for putting this together!

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PhilHSC's avatar

Excellent breakdown Azeem, thanks a ton

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Albert Drouart's avatar

Great summary Azeem, thank you!

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