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    Re: More on facebook cryptocurrency - minor detail on intrusion at end of article Archived Message

    Posted by Cobbett on June 19, 2019, 4:27 pm, in reply to "More on facebook cryptocurrency - minor detail on intrusion at end of article"

    Indeed, yes. I wonder if there will be enough gullible people out there to make it a success.

    It's not really a cryptocurrency, it's digital currency. And not all cryptocurrencies claim anonymity. Infact, there is not one that is provably anonymous in the real sense. Monero, Zcash etc claim to be but are compromised, and in fact might be honey-traps. Even bitcoin is not anonymous, as sophisticated tools such as chain analysis can be utilised - though probably only realistically if certain letter agencies are determined enough to find certain wallet owners.

    All in all though, it could really stir the financial world up IF they decide to launch it next year.

    Libra is more of a "stablecoin" like Tether, which will be pegged to a basket of fiat currencies, possibly even ending up as an SDR (Special Drawing Rights)? So, just like all other fiat currencies it will gradually lose buying power over time, unlike "legacy" bitcoin (which has public addresses that begin with a "1" rather than a "3")which is likely to steadily rise over time, though with volatility along the way.

    Also, Libra is not permissionless, unlike bitcoin, and is centralised rather than decentralised like bitcoin.

    There is also the question of taxes on any profits derived from Libra. Unclear at the moment.

    With bitcoin, YOU are responsible for your own wallet, whereas with Libra I can see certain individuals being locked-out for having the "wrong" opinions or friends on Facebook and affiliates, and in future might also lead to social credit type scores being implemented like in China. All very "Black Mirror".

    However, Libra could well be the digital currency that finds mass adoption into "crypto". Though it could be the case that many buy it in order to swap it for bitcoin on an exchange, so could actually do bitcoin a big favour. We'll see.

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