Facebook is , aiming to create some type of stablecoin that will make it possible for users within its gargantuan network to transfer value to each other. Why Facebook doesn’t simply use an existing cryptocurrency is, of course, a mystery.
Facebook’s Not Going Full Crypto
Facebook should have just added general support for cryptocurrency rather than building its own proprietary token. | Source: REUTERS / Dado Ruvic
Perhaps it fears to open the minds of users too much: from cryptocurrency they might graduate to better social media platforms, like .
What will the real value of another token pegged to the US dollar be to the crypto community? We can assume that over such a broad swath of users, the thing is bound to see some real utility. We can expect the same for , who’ve decided to build a blockchain from scratch – something to compete in the ever-deepening sea of smart contract platforms like and .
But if the coin is just issued by , at its discretion, without any real decentralized governance, does it even qualify as a cryptocurrency? That much is debatable. We’ve talked before about the properties of a cryptocurrency, and .
There is some delineation, too, between algorithmic stablecoins like MakerDAO’s , which is a collateralized asset and pegged currencies like . The Dai essentially relies on the market to determine the validity of its tokens – coins are backed by at least 150% their value in , which provides a pretty good cushion to ensure liquidity.
LOL Zuckerbucks
As Minds.com CEO Bill Ottman , it’s fabulous that Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg, proprietors of the tools of mass distraction for a whole generation, are interested in sound money. It’s good that they’re into blockchain technologies. But if they don’t walk the walk, why should we listen to them talk?
Cool example of experimenting on the Lightning Network.
🔥
⚡️Torch received, now passing along to !— jack (@jack)
The name has gone parabolic in crypto circles recently due to his participation in the Lightning Network torch event and friendship with Elizabeth Stark. Dorsey still supports censoring unpopular speech, though, which and cypherpunks as a whole despise.
Typically, we understand that censorship is the least effective tool for any debate. In too many cases, it provides undue interest and influence to the censored. Most of those trolls banned from are, in fact, disgusting people. But now they’re all shacked up at , with fewer and fewer people to call them on their sh*t. But Twitter gets it wrong from time to time. See the whole #learntocode debacle:
Facebook’s crypto plans are still pretty unclear. One thing is for certain: the blockchain can be used for anything at all. It can be used to personal freedom – or take it away. Blockchains store value, track supply chains, and enable tamper-resistant voting. The technology can probably also be used to successfully launch .
Facebook Coin: The Antithesis of a Privacy Coin
Here’s a thought, though. If you think ’ analytical tools are scary, imagine what a cryptocurrency built by Facebook might reveal. If it knows, for example, that you held the token, and then someone else held it, and then managed to hold it, would that trace back to you? How much user data will be present in these tokens? Will they have a prayer of being fungible or on regular crypto exchanges?
Whatever they do, the blockchain natives will continue to do better. That’s my opinion until I see evidence otherwise. Facebook should just create an open money API and let the various players in the blockchain space compete for dominance on it. They’d probably make more money that way and have less need for blockchain engineers.
Published at Sat, 30 Mar 2019 20:30:16 +0000
