{"id":55690,"date":"2019-07-01T15:00:43","date_gmt":"2019-07-01T23:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/?p=55690"},"modified":"2019-07-16T04:16:12","modified_gmt":"2019-07-16T12:16:12","slug":"facebooks-libra-could-be-a-step-towards-666","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/prophecy\/facebooks-libra-could-be-a-step-towards-666\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook’s Libra could be a step towards 666"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n<\/em>(Facebook’s Libra logo)<\/em><\/p>\n

COGwriter<\/a><\/p>\n

Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency, tentatively named Libra, has been in the news. Notice, for example, the following:<\/p>\n

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When Facebook announced its new digital currency, Libra<\/a>, on June 18, the company changed the conversation about the viability of cryptocurrencies. It immediately surmounted one of the most important obstacles: users. With 2.7 billion customers across its platform (that includes Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp), Facebook has a user base like no other. Unlike most crypto projects, Facebook doesn\u2019t have to convince people to sign up: It has them, and Libra will be integrated into apps that are already a part of their daily lives.<\/p>\n

Facebook has also benefitted from a decade of bitcoin\u2019s trial and error. 06\/29\/19 https:\/\/qz.com\/1655319\/the-winners-and-losers-of-facebooks-libra\/<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard Libra is a \u201cstablecoin.\u201d What is that, and how does it figure into this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Libra is<\/em> a stablecoin \u2014 kind of! Unfortunately, much like \u201ccryptocurrency,\u201d this is something of a semantic gray area.<\/p>\n

Basically, any cryptocurrency pegged to either a fiat currency (say, the US dollar) or some kind of government-backed security (like a bond) counts as a stablecoin. The idea is that there\u2019s more stability \u2014 hence the name \u2014 and less volatility than in something like bitcoin, which isn\u2019t pegged to anything. Bitcoin is exactly as valuable as people believe<\/em> bitcoin is, which makes it very, very volatile.<\/p>\n

Unlike most stablecoins, though, Libra isn\u2019t pegged to one specific currency. Libra is pegged to a group of \u201cof low-volatility assets, including bank deposits and government securities\u201d in multiple currencies. While there is a Libra Reserve, Libra doesn\u2019t seem like it\u2019s necessarily<\/em> pegged to its value. Rather, the reserve functions as a kind of lower bound on Libra\u2019s value.<\/p>\n

That means that there\u2019s just one Libra, no matter where you live. Levine is great here, too,<\/a> so I am going to paraphrase him again: if Libra does catch on, it\u2019s likely to displace currencies like the dollar. That\u2019s because if you spend mostly Libra, perhaps because you buy most things online, you\u2019ll only convert your Libras into dollars for when you need to spend IRL money, and the dollar will begin to seem annoying to you since it keeps moving up and down relative to the Libra. \u201cThe goal is for Libra to be more useful than any national currency, accepted in more places and with fewer complications; pegging it to a single national currency would only hold it back,\u201d Levine writes. https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2019\/6\/26\/18716326\/facebook-libra-cryptocurrency-blockchain-irs-starbucks<\/a><\/p>\n

Facebook\u00a0released<\/a>\u00a0its\u00a0white paper<\/a>\u00a0explaining Libra and its\u00a0testnet<\/a>\u00a0for working out the kinks of its blockchain system before a public launch in the first half of 2020.<\/p>\n

Facebook\u00a0<\/a>won\u2019t fully control Libra, but instead get just a single vote in its governance like other founding members of the Libra Association, including Visa, Uber and Andreessen Horowitz, which have invested at least $10 million each into the project\u2019s operations. …<\/p>\n

Facebook is launching a subsidiary company also called Calibra that handles its crypto dealings and protects users\u2019 privacy by never mingling your Libra payments with your Facebook data so it can\u2019t be used for ad targeting. …<\/p>\n

The 28 soon-to-be founding members of the association and their industries, previously reported by\u00a0The Block\u2019s Frank Chaparro<\/a>, include:<\/p>\n