# Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency, Libra, Gets Big Backers



## BarberFerdinand (Jun 14, 2019)

https://archive.fo/IQU1P    (works)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebooks-new-cryptocurrency-gets-big-backers-11560463312  (paywall)



Spoiler: article



Facebook Inc. FB 1.39%▲ has signed up more than a dozen companies including Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc., MA -1.00%▲ PayPal Holdings Inc. PYPL 1.07%▲ and Uber Technologies Inc. UBER 5.07%▲ to back the new cryptocurrency that the social-media giant plans to unveil next week.
The collection of financial firms and e-commerce companies will invest around $10 million each in a consortium that will govern the digital coin, according to people familiar with the matter. The money would be used to fund the creation of the coin, which will be pegged to a basket of government-issued currencies to avoid the wild swings that have dogged other cryptocurrencies, they said.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Facebook was recruiting financial firms and online merchants to help launch the crypto-based payments system and was seeking to raise around $1 billion for the effort, code-named Project Libra. The secretive project, in the works for more than a year, revolves around a digital coin that its users could send to each other and use to make purchases both on Facebook and across the internet.
Talks with some of the partners are ongoing, and the group’s eventual membership may change, the people added.
A Facebook spokeswoman declined to comment.
It has been a decade since bitcoin was born, yet consumers hardly use it or the hundreds of other cryptocurrencies to pay for things. Facebook is betting it can change that with a crypto-based payments system built around its giant social network and its billions of users.
It is still not entirely clear, even to some members of the consortium, how the coin will work or what their roles will be, people familiar with the project said. Regulatory hurdles in the U.S. and elsewhere are high.
Some members have expressed concerns that the token could be used to launder money and finance terrorist organizations, some of people said, a persistent problem with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Facebook won’t directly control the coin, nor will the individual members of the consortium known as the Libra Association. Some of the members could serve as “nodes” along the system that verifies transactions and maintains records of them, creating a brand-new payments network, according to people familiar with the setup.
Financial-technology firm Stripe Inc., travel-reservation site Booking.com and Argentina-based e-commerce site MercadoLibre Inc. have signed on to the project, some of the people said, an indication of its international ambitions.
Keeping the cryptocurrency network separate from Facebook’s platform gives the social-media giant some cover with users and regulators should problems arise, a big advantage at a time when it is under pressure to address privacy shortcomings. Yet Facebook, as the developer of the underlying technology, could exert considerable influence over it.
Still, the lure of Facebook’s nearly 2.4 billion monthly active users was too strong for many companies to pass up. Card companies have long fretted that a technology giant could muscle into their business, creating a payment option that cuts out card networks. Participating in Libra allows them to closely monitor Facebook’s payment ambitions while sharing in the upside should the project gain traction with consumers.
Facebook plans to release a white paper introducing the coin next week, according to people familiar with its plans, adopting a format popularized by bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
The company has asked consortium members to cosign the paper, some of the people said.
*Write to *AnnaMaria Andriotis at annamaria.andriotis@wsj.com, Peter Rudegeair at Peter.Rudegeair@wsj.com and Liz Hoffman at liz.hoffman@wsj.com


----------



## Marissa Moira (Jun 14, 2019)

I look forward to new Bizzonacci content.


----------



## Rei is shit (Jun 14, 2019)

Why would anyone want a crypto that is backed and controlled/tracked by banks. It defeats most of the purpose.


----------



## Rand /pol/ (Jun 14, 2019)

More like libratard.


----------



## Marissa Moira (Jun 14, 2019)

Rei is shit said:


> Why would anyone want a crypto that is backed and controlled/tracked by banks. It defeats most of the purpose.


These are not smart people.


----------



## Coconut Gun (Jun 14, 2019)

But can you use it to buy assassins and drugs on the spoopyweb?


----------



## Marissa Moira (Jun 14, 2019)

BigRuler said:


> >owned, controlled and operated by a cartel of megacorporations
> >value is tied to a bunch of government controlled fiat currencies
> 
> this goes against everything crypto stands for


C'mon crypto is popular because it's invisible money and you can buy naughty things with it, don't you want designer branded invisible money?


----------



## Arctic Fox (Jun 14, 2019)

I miss paper money. No one can track you. No one can steal your life savings with a phone app. And if they really wanted to steal from you they had to have the _balls_ to take it by force. 

Anyone who buys this crypto deserves to be screwed by it.


----------



## pentylspacer2600 (Jun 14, 2019)

the monopoly just created a currency how charming


----------



## Marissa Moira (Jun 14, 2019)

I wonder if Facebook will try and replace the US Dollar as the world's reserve currency with this Shitcoin?


----------



## MediocreMilt (Jun 14, 2019)

I have it on good authority that our dear leader @Null whole-heartedly supports Bitcoin for Israel.


----------



## Marissa Moira (Jun 14, 2019)

Say the word Nigger online.

Facebook locks you out of your Crypto and gives it to Black Lives Matter to show that corporations are the real moral arbiters and guardians of this world.


----------



## Eryngium (Jun 14, 2019)

Marissa Moira said:


> Say the word Nigger online.
> 
> Facebook locks you out of your Crypto and gives it to Black Lives Matter to show that corporations are the real moral arbiters and guardians of this world.


I know it's a joke, but I really wouldn't be surprised if they did something like that.


----------



## Particle Bored (Jun 14, 2019)

Mark, please explain how this is different from V-Bucks. And it better be more than "but you can spend it on Amazon!"


----------



## Coach Kreeton Of All That (Jun 14, 2019)

Eryngium said:


> I know it's a joke, but I really wouldn't be surprised if they did something like that.


Now I'm gonna try this little trick.

Olde English: Cursed, Tory, Juden, Negro, Press.

New English: Damn liberal Jew Nigger Media.

How much crypto fell?


----------



## Omnium Ultimatus (Jun 14, 2019)

Arctic Fox said:


> I miss paper money. No one can track you. No one can steal your life savings with a phone app. And if they really wanted to steal from you they had to have the _balls_ to take it by force.
> 
> Anyone who buys this crypto deserves to be screwed by it.



They can't steal the physical pieces of paper, (not without civil asset forfeiture) but they can steal their purchasing power through inflation, making them worth less, and eventually, worthless. A dollar in 1919 could cover your groceries, but in 2019, you can barely buy a coke with it.


----------



## The Manglement (Jun 14, 2019)

Rei is shit said:


> Why would anyone want a crypto that is backed and controlled/tracked by banks. It defeats most of the purpose.


I mean, the banks would want that, and they're the people pushing this I'm sure.


----------



## ОТСТАЛАЯ ПИЗДА (Jun 14, 2019)

Crypto shutdowns are quickly devolving into chucky cheese tokens, at least those are physical.


----------



## Takodachi (Jun 14, 2019)

This feels redundant and more like an attempt to introduce the cryptomarket model to the normie audiences, which would still be redundant because the normies wouldnt even care about it.


----------



## Krimjob (Jun 14, 2019)

Seems like a great way to cash in though. Anyone know when we can sign up for some facebookshekels?


----------



## Particle Bored (Jun 14, 2019)

Krimjob said:


> Seems like a great way to cash in though. Anyone know when we can sign up for some facebookshekels?


Can't cash in if it's pegged to fiat. It'll never be on exchanges.


Promestein said:


> This feels redundant and more like an attempt to introduce the cryptomarket model to the normie audiences, which would still be redundant because the normies wouldnt even care about it.


I bet they'll at least start it by offering discounts for using it.


----------



## Prinz von Preußen (Jun 14, 2019)

So, if I understand correctly, this is Facebook premium currency? Like a mobile game?


----------



## Marissa Moira (Jun 14, 2019)

Do you think they'll release special edition Libras when the new Star Wars and Marvel movies come out????


----------



## Kaiser Wilhelm's Ghost (Jun 14, 2019)

I'd chalk this up as a pajeet tier coin, if merely for the fact that despite it having real world money backing it, it's Zuckerberg and his shit corporation is behind it. 

Facebook can't protect your personal data, (or help itself from selling it to the Chinese) so why would anyone want to trust any form of currency through a private entity that can and has show itself not to be neutral party when it comes to dealing with people or ideologies it doesn't agree with. 

So as much as we can joke about posting Nigger on Facebook = confiscation of funds. That is actually a simple albeit realistic over view of what might just happen. 

As for people not using the coins for their intended purpose, every time Bitcoin tried to seek some form of legitimacy by being used as an actual currency, it's either been blocked or undermined by payment competitors and banks not wanting to play ball and prevent mass adoption, or the fact that it's liquidity is such that it's only value for a long time has been through speculation. It's never had stabilization enough to attract it to major vendors. 

Ironically IRCC the only time bitcoin was essentially a more or less stable currency was when it was used as the main token of exchange on the first iteration of the Silk Road. (Boy do I feel old.) Alt coins at the time, you could count on one hand.


----------



## Foxxo (Jun 14, 2019)

At least it's not run by Google, who would shut it down in two years and take all the Apple Pay users down with it.


----------



## Maggots on a Train v2 (Jun 14, 2019)

I can't wait for sites to start outsourcing their payment processing to this shit the same way they outsourced signups and logins to faceberg.  That omnipresent shit was half the reason I refused to ever sign up for facebook in the first place.


----------



## Quijibo69 (Jun 14, 2019)

Syndrome of a Down said:


> Crypto shutdowns are quickly devolving into chucky cheese tokens, at least those are physical.



This sums it up as a whole:


----------



## Drunk and Pour (Jul 7, 2019)

So I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to crypto.  What's the point of this that would benefit consumers?  If you already have a credit card, this just seems like a pointless middleman.  Also, can you sell this and get your actual money back?  If someone buys something from me from Ebay and uses Libra, can I get that shit out of Facebooks hands and put it in my back, or is it stuck with Facebook and I can only ever use that money for Facebook approved purchases?  That seems like it would be the catch to this whole thing.


----------



## The best and greatest (Jul 11, 2019)

Prinz von Preußen said:


> So, if I understand correctly, this is Facebook premium currency? Like a mobile game?


Facebook learns the real premium currency was inside it all along!


----------



## pawgchamp (Jul 18, 2019)

THISN ISNT THE FUCKING POINT OF CRYPTO REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE


----------



## AF 802 (Jul 18, 2019)

Looks like the world's leaders aren't buying into Zucc's crypto.









						Facebook Libra Risks to Financial Stability Demand 'Highest' Regulatory Standards, Says G7 - CoinDesk
					

The G7 group of nations has warned of the threat posed by stablecoins such as Facebook's Libra and set out draft recommendations for regulation.




					www.coindesk.com
				






> The G7 group of nations has warned that cryptocurrencies such as Facebook’s Libra are a threat to global financial stability.
> 
> A task force set up by the G7 to examine the issues said that rules of the “highest” standards are needed to minimize the use of digital currencies in money laundering and funding terrorism, Reuters reportsThursday.
> 
> ...


----------



## Shroom King (Jul 18, 2019)

I hope Zuckerberg somehow gets fucked on this by the IRS, SEC or some other government agency.


----------



## AF 802 (Jul 18, 2019)

Shroom King said:


> I hope Zuckerberg somehow gets fucked on this by the IRS, SEC or some other government agency.



From the sounds of it, it's gotten the government leaders talking. Daddy Trump doesn't like crypto but Jerome Powell seems to like crypto in general.









						Fed Chairman Jerome Powell Compares Bitcoin to Gold - CoinDesk
					

Powell compared bitcoin to gold, referring to them both as speculative stores of value.




					www.coindesk.com


----------



## Autocrat (Jul 19, 2019)

*2:39:50
>*Does the Calibra wallet require a bank accounts?
No, Congresswoman
.....
>SO YOUR SOLUTION TO THE WORLD'S UNBANKED REQUIRES THEM TO HAVE A BANK ACCOUNT..

This is one of 'The Squad' congresswomen of color. She is completely smug without having any clue what she's saying. It gets better.



> The reason why you even have this opportunity [to create Libra] is because the federal reserve has failed to provide Americans with a safe and efficient system to access and move their money



There's no system.. except stable cash and trusted banks everywhere. _What the fuck_? This is about giving the stability and ease of use of the US dollar to the rest of the world. The system in the US is great. After this, David Markus just kind of looks at everyone knowingly.

————
*1:39:50* is also extremely critical, though nowhere near as stupid.


----------

