1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with iHeart Radio. And 4 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: how the tech are Yeah, well, let's get to it. 5 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:27,880 Speaker 1: In the summer of twenty nineteen, Facebook, the company, you know, 6 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:31,639 Speaker 1: the one that's now known as Meta. I keep forgetting 7 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:36,600 Speaker 1: to call it that anyway, Facebook announced a project called Libra, 8 00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:41,479 Speaker 1: and it was to be a new cryptocurrency sort of 9 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:45,599 Speaker 1: more on that in a second. In fact, I think 10 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 1: it might be more fair to just call it a 11 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:50,280 Speaker 1: digital currency. But it was meant to be a currency 12 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: that would allow folks to send money around the globe 13 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: with a minimum of fuss, including stuff like transaction fees 14 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: and you know, currency convert Asian fees and all the 15 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:05,039 Speaker 1: stuff that mounts up as you try to move money 16 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:08,880 Speaker 1: from one region in the world to a different region. 17 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: And it was going to work all through various applications 18 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:17,560 Speaker 1: such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, both of which obviously 19 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:22,920 Speaker 1: are Facebook slash Meta properties. Now that alone would have 20 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:26,920 Speaker 1: been a huge benefit to millions, perhaps as many as 21 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: a billion people. There are so many folks who leave 22 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:33,640 Speaker 1: their families behind in order to travel to some other 23 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:36,440 Speaker 1: part of the world where they can get work, and 24 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:38,880 Speaker 1: a lot of them want to send money back home 25 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: to their loved ones. You know, maybe they're able to 26 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 1: earn a decent wage whereas back home they couldn't, and 27 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 1: they still want to be able to support their family. 28 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:52,560 Speaker 1: But international money transfers are, to put it lightly, somewhat clunky, 29 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 1: and various fees often eat away significantly at any money 30 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 1: you actually send back, so the amount that your family 31 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: receives might be a fraction of what you actually sent. 32 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 1: A digital currency that could streamline that process and work 33 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: natively within apps that billions of people are already using 34 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: seemed like a no brainer. But we recently learned that 35 00:02:14,639 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: silver Gate Capital, which is a bank located in California, 36 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:22,280 Speaker 1: has paid two hundred million dollars for the assets of 37 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 1: what was once called Libra. So today I thought we 38 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: would talk about what Libra was, how Facebook was involved, 39 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: the changes that the currency went through, and how we 40 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:39,000 Speaker 1: got to where we are now with the project essentially disbanded. 41 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:42,960 Speaker 1: So let's start at the very beginning, which is a 42 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: very good place to start. According to CNBC, the natural 43 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: starting point is with a woman named Morgan Beller who 44 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:55,440 Speaker 1: joined Facebook in ten. She joined as part of the 45 00:02:55,480 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 1: company's corporate development department. Now, in case you're not down 46 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:04,240 Speaker 1: with business speak, corporate development is usually the part of 47 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,640 Speaker 1: a company that's always looking for the next deal, you know, 48 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:12,799 Speaker 1: whether it's a merger or an acquisition, divestiture, a partnership, 49 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:15,840 Speaker 1: anything like that. When you get down to it, it's 50 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:19,360 Speaker 1: really the part of big companies that's always looking for 51 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 1: ways to grow the company further and to restructure it 52 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: so that it works more efficiently. Um Typically, when I 53 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:29,799 Speaker 1: think of efficiently in these terms, it's really how can 54 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:34,400 Speaker 1: we do more but with fewer resources and with better revenue. So, 55 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: in other words, what are we doing now? Can we 56 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:39,080 Speaker 1: do more of that? And can we do more of 57 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:43,080 Speaker 1: that without spending so much? It's really how how it 58 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 1: boils down in Beller began reaching out to crypto experts 59 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:52,240 Speaker 1: with the question, Hey, if you had access to a 60 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 1: couple of billion people through a platform you had built, 61 00:03:56,360 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 1: how would you integrate cryptocurrency into that platform and you know, 62 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: use that to the benefit of both yourself and your users. 63 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: The implication being that Facebook, the company, which again would 64 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: not be called meta until late had this enormous user 65 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: base more than a billion people, and a digital currency 66 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:20,960 Speaker 1: that was native to Facebook could be an incredible source 67 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:24,400 Speaker 1: of revenue as well as potentially help countless people out. 68 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:29,839 Speaker 1: CNBC reports that Beller was the sole employee in the 69 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 1: company working on blockchain initiatives in those early days in seventeen. 70 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:39,600 Speaker 1: In January eighteen, Mark Zuckerberg himself posted on Facebook that 71 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 1: he wanted to delve further into technologies like encryption and 72 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:48,839 Speaker 1: cryptocurrency due to their potential to create decentralized assets that 73 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 1: quote take power from centralized systems and put it back 74 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 1: into people's hands end quote. Yes, Mark Zuckerberg, man of 75 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 1: the people. I'm sure when you think who represents the 76 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:07,240 Speaker 1: average Joe, Mark Zuckerberg leaps to mind. Uh. It wasn't 77 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 1: an outright admission that Facebook the company was getting into 78 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:15,839 Speaker 1: cryptocurrency or even blockchain, but it was an early sign. Also, 79 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 1: I do want to say that while the model is 80 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:23,480 Speaker 1: conceptually decentralized as and you don't have like a centralized 81 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: bank or financial authority at the center of most cryptocurrencies, 82 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:34,279 Speaker 1: the Internet itself conceptually is decentralized, but in practice we 83 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:38,279 Speaker 1: tend to see a few very powerful players take center 84 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:42,360 Speaker 1: stage in various domains, if you will, of those technologies, 85 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:47,080 Speaker 1: and effectively at least parts of the system become centralized. 86 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:50,280 Speaker 1: Those those companies become the centralized authority within the system. 87 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: So you can have something that you know in theory 88 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:58,760 Speaker 1: is decentralized and still in reality it can change into 89 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:01,479 Speaker 1: more of a centralisis to him, a great example of 90 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 1: that is UH cloud hosting, like various you know, applications 91 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 1: and things of that nature. Amazon has essentially a lockdown 92 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:16,039 Speaker 1: on that, effectively a lockdown. If you talk about Internet search, 93 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 1: Google has a lockdown on that, and what is in 94 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:24,920 Speaker 1: theory decentralized in practice becomes very centralized. A lot of 95 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 1: people have argued cryptocurrency falls into that same category, but 96 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:33,359 Speaker 1: that's a discussion for another time now. It wouldn't be 97 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: until the spring of when Beller's work started convincing folks 98 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:41,719 Speaker 1: higher up on the corporate chain, which ironically is not 99 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 1: a blockchain, that she was onto something and that more 100 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:50,400 Speaker 1: people should pay attention. In May, David Marcus posted on 101 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:53,320 Speaker 1: his Facebook account that he was taking the lead on 102 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:57,479 Speaker 1: a blockchain working group in Facebook. He also said the 103 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:01,040 Speaker 1: group was building everything from scratch and maybe I missed it, 104 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 1: but it seemed like he didn't acknowledge Beller's work at all. Like, 105 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 1: from what I can tell, the reason that Libra even 106 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:12,200 Speaker 1: got started is because Beller was hard at work trying 107 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:16,080 Speaker 1: to figure out ways to incorporate blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies 108 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:19,640 Speaker 1: into Facebook products UH, and so I thought it was 109 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: a little odd that there was no acknowledgement here, although 110 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:27,720 Speaker 1: from all accounts, Beller was an integral component in the 111 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: creation of UH the Libra initiative. Anyway, David Marcus had 112 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,240 Speaker 1: previously led the Facebook Messenger division within the company for 113 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:40,400 Speaker 1: nearly three years um or maybe it was like almost 114 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:42,640 Speaker 1: four years, and before that he was president of PayPal, 115 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:46,920 Speaker 1: So this was someone familiar with both financial organizations and 116 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:51,120 Speaker 1: communications organizations, and of course that was the crux of 117 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:56,200 Speaker 1: Facebook's value proposition. When the company was actually ready to 118 00:07:56,280 --> 00:08:01,880 Speaker 1: talk about this currency project, in the meantime, Marcus and 119 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 1: Beller began building out a team to draft out ideas 120 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: for a digital currency that could work with Facebook, as 121 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: well as a digital wallet that would interoperate with Facebook services. 122 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: And the wallet is the part of the system that 123 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:20,320 Speaker 1: the end user UH interfaces with right The wallet is 124 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 1: where the user accesses their funds or they purchase more 125 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: crypto units, uh, and its stores the crypto units that 126 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: they own. It has their account on it. Essentially, it's 127 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:37,320 Speaker 1: called a wallet because it acts like a real world 128 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:42,040 Speaker 1: wallet would and UH, it would be a delicate thing 129 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:45,240 Speaker 1: to talk about this moving forward because Facebook was trying 130 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:50,000 Speaker 1: very very hard to position itself as we are really 131 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:53,240 Speaker 1: focusing on the wallet side of this. And yes, we're 132 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:57,240 Speaker 1: involved in drafting out what the currency will be, but 133 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:01,960 Speaker 1: that's that's not our thing. Know, it's not Facebook's currency, 134 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:06,200 Speaker 1: but we are going to create a wallet. However, it'll 135 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:08,680 Speaker 1: just be one of many wallets that could be created 136 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:11,920 Speaker 1: for this currency. So Facebook in the very early days 137 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:16,400 Speaker 1: was still trying to create a narrative that gave a 138 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:20,800 Speaker 1: little bit of separation between the company and the currency. 139 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: Now occasionally the tech media would remind everyone that Facebook 140 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:29,880 Speaker 1: was working on something in the cryptocurrency realm, and by 141 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,720 Speaker 1: May twenty nineteen, journalists had pretty much confirmed a Facebook 142 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:38,320 Speaker 1: cryptocurrency like service was coming. At the time, people were 143 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:42,360 Speaker 1: referencing this as Facebook Coin or sometimes as global Coin, 144 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: but for the most part, you know, it was it 145 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:48,720 Speaker 1: was pretty quiet news outside the company. You know, you 146 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:50,880 Speaker 1: didn't hear about it very much until June of two 147 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:54,200 Speaker 1: thousand nineteen. That's when the website for what was then 148 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:58,040 Speaker 1: called the Libra Association launched. There's gonna be a lot 149 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 1: of then called because all the stuff I'm gonna talk 150 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:05,440 Speaker 1: about has changed names. Facebook changed its name, the Libra 151 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:10,000 Speaker 1: Association changed its name, The Libra unit of currency changed 152 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:14,280 Speaker 1: its name. Calibra, the digital wallet that Facebook was gonna 153 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:17,840 Speaker 1: make changed its name. Everything changed its name. It's almost 154 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:20,959 Speaker 1: like everyone wanted to try and assume a brand new 155 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:26,120 Speaker 1: identity and wipe the slate clean. That's foreshadowing, um. But anyway, 156 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:28,880 Speaker 1: in June two thousand nineteen, that's also when someone and 157 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:32,560 Speaker 1: I'm not sure who, published a piece in Facebook's newsroom section. 158 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:35,400 Speaker 1: There was no attribution as to who wrote it, but 159 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:39,480 Speaker 1: this was announcing Calibra. Now, that was the digital wallet 160 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:46,240 Speaker 1: service specifically crafted to work with the Libra unit of currency. Okay, 161 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:49,160 Speaker 1: let's do a quick overview again, like a quick rundown. 162 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:52,600 Speaker 1: We have the Libra Association. That's an organization that would 163 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:56,800 Speaker 1: oversee the development of this digital currency. The currency itself 164 00:10:56,880 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 1: was called Libra, and Facebook digital wallet was called CA, 165 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: Libra c A, l I, B R A. All Right, Now, 166 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:09,959 Speaker 1: folks in the currency division have been hard at work 167 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:14,040 Speaker 1: forming relationships with numerous companies to create a sort of alliance, 168 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:17,719 Speaker 1: the Libra Alliance that would or a Libra Association that 169 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:21,720 Speaker 1: would collectively be the force behind the Libra digital currency 170 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:24,440 Speaker 1: um I figure. They realized pretty early on that if 171 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:26,480 Speaker 1: Facebook tried to do this all on its own, people 172 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 1: would bring up a whole bunch of tough questions, which 173 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:34,040 Speaker 1: they did anyway. Plus Facebook just didn't have the deep 174 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:37,160 Speaker 1: background of expertise in the financial world to be able to, 175 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:42,120 Speaker 1: you know, authoritatively, come forward and take the reins on everything. Now, 176 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:46,280 Speaker 1: initially the Libra Association had twenty seven partners in it 177 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:49,840 Speaker 1: besides Facebook, and there were some really big companies in 178 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 1: this association like Visa and MasterCard. Now these are financial 179 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:58,160 Speaker 1: institutions with a very long history of processing transactions. There 180 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:01,880 Speaker 1: was also a PayPal, David Marcus, his old stomping grounds uh. 181 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:05,240 Speaker 1: Spotify was on there too, way before the company would 182 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:08,400 Speaker 1: become mired down in a mess of battling ideologies and 183 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:12,960 Speaker 1: misinformation campaigns. Then you had Uber and Lift that were 184 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:15,679 Speaker 1: also on that list, as well as coin Base, and 185 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:19,520 Speaker 1: lots of others. Now, the digital currency being proposed was 186 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:23,720 Speaker 1: in some ways similar to cryptocurrencies and in other ways 187 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 1: very different, and a lot of outlets would refer to 188 00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:30,720 Speaker 1: Libra just as a cryptocurrency as sort of shorthand, but 189 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:34,800 Speaker 1: some were a little more nuanced in their description. For example, 190 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:38,960 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Lapato, who's an editor at The Verge, wrote a 191 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:42,840 Speaker 1: phenomenal piece about Libra back in June of two thousand nineteen. 192 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:47,960 Speaker 1: It was titled simply Libra Explained. Now, first, miss Lapato, 193 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:50,840 Speaker 1: you are far too modest. Not only did you explain 194 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:54,400 Speaker 1: Libra thoroughly, I mean seriously, it is an excellent article. 195 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:57,200 Speaker 1: You should read it. But Lapato also did in a 196 00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:00,200 Speaker 1: way that was really entertaining as it was informative. Also, 197 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:03,240 Speaker 1: just side note to miss Lapato, I also have a 198 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:06,120 Speaker 1: habit of capitalizing words for comedic effect, and I don't 199 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:09,280 Speaker 1: care if I'm the only person who finds it funny. Anyway, 200 00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:13,320 Speaker 1: Lapato's piece points out how the proposed currency has laid 201 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:17,920 Speaker 1: out in a white paper compares to a cryptocurrency like bitcoin. 202 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:20,920 Speaker 1: Uh So, with bitcoin, you have a finite number of 203 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 1: bitcoin that will ever be in circulation, and once they 204 00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:26,880 Speaker 1: are all in circulation. That's it. That's all that will 205 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:30,040 Speaker 1: ever be in circulation. They will continue to circulate, but 206 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:33,559 Speaker 1: you won't generate more. You can't print more, you can't 207 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:37,320 Speaker 1: mind more. That's it. Now. In the beginning, most of 208 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:41,240 Speaker 1: the bitcoin were locked away essentially, and the process of 209 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:44,960 Speaker 1: mining would liberate a certain number of bitcoin every ten 210 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:48,760 Speaker 1: minutes or so. That number released would diminish over time, 211 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:53,679 Speaker 1: so every four years it reduces by half. Originally, if 212 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 1: you were on the ground floor of bitcoin when it 213 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:58,960 Speaker 1: first launched, those first four years, if you were the 214 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:02,640 Speaker 1: one to mind a block, you know, to essentially verify 215 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:06,680 Speaker 1: a block of transactions in the blockchain of bitcoin, well 216 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:10,400 Speaker 1: you would be awarded fifty bitcoin for your efforts. Four 217 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:13,680 Speaker 1: years after that, it was down to twenty five bitcoin 218 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:17,040 Speaker 1: per block. Four years after that twelve and a half bitcoin. 219 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:19,440 Speaker 1: Then you get to where we are right now. If 220 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:21,880 Speaker 1: you were to mine a bitcoin successfully, if you were 221 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:25,560 Speaker 1: to you know, verify a block of transactions in the 222 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:29,400 Speaker 1: bitcoin chain, you wouldn't at six point to five bitcoin 223 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:33,760 Speaker 1: per block. That's gonna jump down to three point one 224 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:36,720 Speaker 1: to five bitcoin per block. This, by the way, is 225 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:41,560 Speaker 1: one of the elements that might actually stabilize bitcoins value 226 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:45,560 Speaker 1: over time. Uh and and also have lots of other effects, 227 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:50,440 Speaker 1: like we might see a huge decline in massive operations 228 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 1: that have huge electricity consumption needs. But again that's a 229 00:14:56,760 --> 00:15:00,000 Speaker 1: topic for a different episode. And then there's the block 230 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:03,240 Speaker 1: chain itself. You can think of bitcoins blockchain as a 231 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:06,440 Speaker 1: record of all transactions going back to the very beginning 232 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:10,160 Speaker 1: of bitcoin. It would be a little bit different with 233 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:22,920 Speaker 1: liebra I'll explain more, but first let's take a quick break. Okay, 234 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:28,240 Speaker 1: let's talk about blockchain. So it is a chain of blocks, right, 235 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:32,400 Speaker 1: and each block, new block that joins the chain has 236 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:36,880 Speaker 1: information in it that relates back to the previous blocks 237 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:40,960 Speaker 1: in the chain. It's it's got a value that's tied 238 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:44,640 Speaker 1: to the previous blocks, and then the subsequent block, the 239 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:49,320 Speaker 1: next new block, will have information of all the links 240 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:51,440 Speaker 1: back to all the blocks that came before it. The 241 00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:54,760 Speaker 1: benefit of this approach, or one benefit of this approach, 242 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 1: is that should somebody, some nefarious ne'er do well, decide 243 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 1: they to make a change in the history of all 244 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:06,800 Speaker 1: those transactions. Maybe they spent their bitcoin back, you know, 245 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: ten years ago, and they used it to buy a pizza, 246 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:12,920 Speaker 1: and they had thousands of bitcoin, and they're just ruining 247 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 1: the day that they did that because now the bitcoin 248 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:18,200 Speaker 1: are worth so much more than they were way back then. 249 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:21,080 Speaker 1: So what they want to do is go back and 250 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,400 Speaker 1: change a couple of numbers in that list of transactions 251 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 1: that suggests they never spent that money in the first place. 252 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:31,160 Speaker 1: All those thousands of bitcoins are still There's that would 253 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:35,360 Speaker 1: instantly make the millionaires. Well, because of the way that 254 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:40,640 Speaker 1: the chain forms, if you make a change in a block, 255 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:45,000 Speaker 1: every block that follows it is going to also change 256 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:49,560 Speaker 1: because they're all tied to this value that's associated with 257 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: the block, and that means that if you try to 258 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:55,320 Speaker 1: alter the system, everybody knows it, everybody can see that 259 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:59,160 Speaker 1: you did it, and they can invalidate the changes you make, 260 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:03,800 Speaker 1: go back to the stable blockchain, and your attempt to 261 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:07,320 Speaker 1: hoist money through the blockchain would be thwarted. There are 262 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:11,680 Speaker 1: other ways to hist cryptocurrency, but this is one that 263 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 1: the blockchains design itself is uh is going to combat well. 264 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:21,640 Speaker 1: Libra would not use a block chain system. It would 265 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:26,840 Speaker 1: use kind of a unified ledger, just an unbroken ledger 266 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:31,960 Speaker 1: of transactions, not a not a a series of blocks. Also, 267 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:35,159 Speaker 1: bitcoin is what we call a permissionless system. That is, 268 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:38,160 Speaker 1: to participate in bitcoin mining, you just have to join 269 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:41,879 Speaker 1: the bitcoin ecosystem and boom, you're part of it. You 270 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:44,440 Speaker 1: don't have to secure permission from any entity, you don't 271 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:47,520 Speaker 1: have to do anything special, just join the system and 272 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:49,840 Speaker 1: there you go. Now, just because you join doesn't mean 273 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:52,600 Speaker 1: you're gonna raake in any bitcoin, because mining is such 274 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:57,240 Speaker 1: a computationally intensive activity, because bitcoin is a proof of 275 00:17:57,280 --> 00:18:01,600 Speaker 1: work cryptocurrency, and you've got other group that report literally 276 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:08,000 Speaker 1: millions of dollars into computer resources, massive computer systems, all 277 00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:10,280 Speaker 1: just so to get the jump on everybody else in 278 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:14,040 Speaker 1: the ecosystem. It means you don't stand a chance if 279 00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:16,720 Speaker 1: you just like have your laptop hooked into it, but 280 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:19,199 Speaker 1: you are technically allowed to participate. It's just you're not 281 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:23,639 Speaker 1: gonna You're not gonna mind anything. Uh. Libra, in contrast, 282 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:27,400 Speaker 1: was to be a permissioned system, at least initially. The 283 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:30,040 Speaker 1: entities that could ment coins would be limited to the 284 00:18:30,119 --> 00:18:33,960 Speaker 1: partners in the Libra Association. Each partner would contribute a 285 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:36,960 Speaker 1: certain amount of money dedicated to the system. For the 286 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:39,479 Speaker 1: major partners, this was said to be around ten million 287 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:44,800 Speaker 1: dollars each and individual users would then buy into the ecosystem, 288 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:47,080 Speaker 1: but wouldn't be able to participate in any kind of mining. 289 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:49,840 Speaker 1: So you and I, if we wanted to use Libra, well, 290 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:53,440 Speaker 1: we could use whatever our native currency was to purchase 291 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:58,400 Speaker 1: Libra units of currency, but we couldn't mind Libra. In fact, 292 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:01,960 Speaker 1: the original idea kind of went like this. You decide 293 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:04,760 Speaker 1: you want to purchase some units of Libra so that 294 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:07,560 Speaker 1: you can send some money to your dear sweet auntie 295 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:11,119 Speaker 1: who lives in a different country, and you spend whatever 296 00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:13,840 Speaker 1: your local currency happens to be. Let's say it's in euros, 297 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:18,359 Speaker 1: so you spend ten euros to purchase libra. Your money 298 00:19:18,359 --> 00:19:21,359 Speaker 1: would then enter into the Libra reserve that would be 299 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:24,680 Speaker 1: this big pool of resources. That pool of resources backs 300 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:28,520 Speaker 1: the value of every Libra unit of currency, and you 301 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:31,600 Speaker 1: would receive an amount of libra equivalent to the ten 302 00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 1: euros you paid, right, So whatever the Libra equivalent of 303 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:38,000 Speaker 1: ten euros was, that's what goes into your your digital wallet. 304 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:43,200 Speaker 1: Then you send the digital Libra to your auntie. And 305 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:46,320 Speaker 1: let's say your auntie lives in Canada and she wants 306 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:48,439 Speaker 1: to cash out, and she wants to trade the Libra 307 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 1: in for Canadian dollars, so the Libra association covers the 308 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:56,440 Speaker 1: cashing out of the process. So the reserve like ten 309 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:01,880 Speaker 1: whatever the the equivalent in Canadian dollars is, gets chucked out. 310 00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:04,760 Speaker 1: At your auntie, she gets her money, and then the 311 00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:07,439 Speaker 1: Libra that she used to trade in to get that 312 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:11,160 Speaker 1: cash that got deleted. So Libra units only exists as 313 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:13,960 Speaker 1: long as the user has them in a digital wallet. 314 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:17,560 Speaker 1: But once you cash out, the Libra would get deleted 315 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:21,879 Speaker 1: rather than recirculated. It's a big difference between Libra and 316 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:26,159 Speaker 1: other cryptocurrencies. And like I said, not a blockchain, just 317 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:31,120 Speaker 1: a long list of all transactions that the partners would 318 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:34,919 Speaker 1: be able to see. Um again, not in blocks, just 319 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:39,520 Speaker 1: as this this tree like structure that they described. Uh. 320 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:42,840 Speaker 1: Then there was the fact that bitcoin is not a 321 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:47,480 Speaker 1: commodity backed currency. It's not a fiat currency either. A 322 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:50,479 Speaker 1: fiat currency is a government issued currency that is not 323 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:53,480 Speaker 1: backed by some other commodity like gold. You know, way 324 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:55,159 Speaker 1: in the old back in the old days of the 325 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:58,920 Speaker 1: dollar was on what was called the gold standard, where 326 00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:03,239 Speaker 1: there was a reserve of gold that backed up the 327 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:06,080 Speaker 1: value of the dollar. End In theory, you could trade 328 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:08,439 Speaker 1: your dollar in for a dollar's worth of gold at 329 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:12,200 Speaker 1: any time. But we've long since abandoned the gold standard, 330 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:15,080 Speaker 1: and now the US dollar is a fiat currency. It's 331 00:21:15,119 --> 00:21:18,480 Speaker 1: government issued, but it is not backed by a specific commodity. 332 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:21,159 Speaker 1: Bitcoin is not issued by a government, and it is 333 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:25,240 Speaker 1: also not backed by a commodity. Like gold, Bitcoin's value 334 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: comes from a restricted supply and a high demand. So, 335 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:31,320 Speaker 1: in other words, bitcoin is valuable because people want it. 336 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:35,040 Speaker 1: There's nothing magical about bitcoin that makes it valuable on 337 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:39,000 Speaker 1: its own. Hamlet would say it's valuable because thinking makes 338 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:42,200 Speaker 1: it so. Then again, you could also apply that same 339 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:44,400 Speaker 1: logic to stuff like gold. You could say, like, well, 340 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:47,119 Speaker 1: gold is not really valuable on its own, it's valuable 341 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:51,119 Speaker 1: because people want it, right, Like, there's nothing intrinsic about 342 00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:53,640 Speaker 1: gold anyway. If you go down that road long enough, 343 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:55,960 Speaker 1: you start to question what is real. I don't recommend 344 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:59,280 Speaker 1: you do it. It's pretty tough out there. Already, Libra 345 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:02,919 Speaker 1: would not be a fiat currency because it wasn't issued 346 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 1: by a government. However, it would be backed by a commodity, 347 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:10,160 Speaker 1: and the initial commodity consisted of the money pooled by 348 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:13,480 Speaker 1: the various partners in the Libra Association. Now The idea 349 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:16,120 Speaker 1: was that Libra's value would be tied to a quote 350 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:21,600 Speaker 1: unquote basket of resources of commodities, which would include fiat 351 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:26,400 Speaker 1: currencies and low risk investments. Uh. The Association would take 352 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:29,320 Speaker 1: this big old poll of cash from the twenty eight 353 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:32,439 Speaker 1: partners who were part of the association and then invest 354 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:35,679 Speaker 1: that money in various low risk investments and guarantee the 355 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:39,359 Speaker 1: value of the Libra currency from that investment pool. And 356 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:42,400 Speaker 1: the partners in return would actually earn interests off of 357 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:46,240 Speaker 1: those investments, like if they actually made money, Well, that 358 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:48,959 Speaker 1: money would go to the partners, it wouldn't get circulated 359 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:53,119 Speaker 1: into the Libra ecosystem. Uh. The association, the members of 360 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:57,560 Speaker 1: the Association would enjoy those profits uh, and then that 361 00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:01,919 Speaker 1: would continue to back the initial pool. There would continue 362 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:06,240 Speaker 1: to back the value of the Libra currency in circulation. Now. 363 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:08,639 Speaker 1: The Association said that this approach would make the Libra 364 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:12,720 Speaker 1: currency less volatile than cryptocurrencies, and that has been a 365 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:16,920 Speaker 1: real issue with lots of cryptocurrencies, especially recently. If you've 366 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:19,000 Speaker 1: heard me talk about crypto before, you know one of 367 00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:22,280 Speaker 1: my big complaints is that for a lot of cryptocurrencies, 368 00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:25,760 Speaker 1: the volatility is so great that you can't really rely 369 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:29,960 Speaker 1: on crypto to act like a real currency. If I 370 00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:33,080 Speaker 1: have a unit of currency that can buy five dollars 371 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:36,520 Speaker 1: worth of goods or services today, but then tomorrow I 372 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:39,160 Speaker 1: could use that same unit of currency to buy twenty 373 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:42,480 Speaker 1: dollars worth of goods or services, I would be petrified 374 00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:45,200 Speaker 1: of spending any cash at all, because I'd be worried 375 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,080 Speaker 1: I'd be bleeding wealth in the process. I would constantly 376 00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:51,800 Speaker 1: be thinking this could buy me four times as much 377 00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:54,800 Speaker 1: tomorrow as it can buy me today, and two days 378 00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:57,440 Speaker 1: from now I might be able to buy twenty times 379 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:01,639 Speaker 1: as much stuff. I would never spend anything because the 380 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,400 Speaker 1: following day I would think, oh, I just I totally 381 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:07,960 Speaker 1: wasted all that buying potential. That's the way I feel 382 00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:12,880 Speaker 1: about cryptocurrency. So Libra would instead be connected to real 383 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:17,320 Speaker 1: world assets that would have, in theory a more predictable value, 384 00:24:17,359 --> 00:24:21,040 Speaker 1: a more stable value to them, and that would make 385 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:25,679 Speaker 1: Libra a bit more stable. In return, Libra would literally 386 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:29,000 Speaker 1: be what we call a stable coin. The major partners 387 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:32,159 Speaker 1: in the Libra Association would each have a single vote 388 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 1: over matters of governance that would include Facebook. Facebook would 389 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:39,240 Speaker 1: have one vote, just like all the other partners and 390 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:42,280 Speaker 1: that was probably a move to help kind of dilute 391 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:45,760 Speaker 1: the perception that Facebook was behind a digital currency, because 392 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:49,359 Speaker 1: various governmental officials around the world were already pretty leery 393 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:51,639 Speaker 1: of Facebook at this point, and that would be a 394 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,960 Speaker 1: trend that would intensify over the following years. And you know, 395 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,159 Speaker 1: it's pretty easy to see why Facebook would want in 396 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:01,080 Speaker 1: on this. The company has a long history of integrating 397 00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:03,920 Speaker 1: products and services that are proven to be successful or 398 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:08,399 Speaker 1: at least popular elsewhere. Facebook as a rep for acquiring 399 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:11,879 Speaker 1: potential competitors, and if that's not an option for copying 400 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:15,160 Speaker 1: competitors and and their products in their services, and an 401 00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:18,320 Speaker 1: effort to monopolize your time on Facebook's and various platforms. 402 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:21,320 Speaker 1: Anything that takes your attention away from Facebook is bad 403 00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:24,280 Speaker 1: for Facebook, so they always try and find ways to 404 00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:27,160 Speaker 1: make sure if something else is vying for your attention, 405 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:29,680 Speaker 1: Facebook wants to be able to provide that same thing 406 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:32,240 Speaker 1: to you so that you don't go away from Facebook. 407 00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:34,800 Speaker 1: Having a stake in a digital currency that could be 408 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:39,080 Speaker 1: used across Facebook services would represent a truly enormous surge 409 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:42,320 Speaker 1: and revenue and power for the company. The trouble for 410 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:44,800 Speaker 1: Facebook is that a lot of other folks have come 411 00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:48,639 Speaker 1: to a similar conclusion. By twenty nineteen, there was already 412 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:52,920 Speaker 1: inherent distrust in the company, and so regulatory agencies around 413 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:56,800 Speaker 1: the world were instantly critical of the Facebook lead initiative. 414 00:25:57,160 --> 00:26:00,560 Speaker 1: It didn't matter if Facebook was just one member of 415 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:05,280 Speaker 1: the twenty eight member Libra Association. Pretty much everyone referenced 416 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,239 Speaker 1: Libra as a Facebook project that also happened to have 417 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,440 Speaker 1: some other big companies involved. One of the very big 418 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:16,280 Speaker 1: concerns expressed both by government officials and media outlets centered 419 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:21,320 Speaker 1: around privacy, obviously, something that is a huge issue at Facebook. 420 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:25,359 Speaker 1: I mean, Zuckerberg himself famously declared privacy to be dead 421 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:30,159 Speaker 1: years and years ago. He walked that back after a while, 422 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:32,160 Speaker 1: but you know, you get the feeling that they pretty 423 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:35,239 Speaker 1: much went whole hog with that idea ever since. So 424 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:37,840 Speaker 1: an early question was how much of a user's data 425 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,959 Speaker 1: would the various partners in the Libra Association see, Like 426 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,520 Speaker 1: they would be able to see the history of transactions. 427 00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:48,560 Speaker 1: They had to to be able to validate transactions, otherwise 428 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 1: there's no control over if someone's actually using, abusing, or 429 00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:58,040 Speaker 1: lying on the system. So how much of the user 430 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:00,520 Speaker 1: data would the Libra Association be pretty d two. And 431 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:03,120 Speaker 1: how might they otherwise use that data If they know 432 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:07,880 Speaker 1: that someone is using libra to purchase a specific type 433 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:10,320 Speaker 1: of thing, could that mean that they could also market 434 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,639 Speaker 1: directly to that person? And then this would mean there 435 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:17,360 Speaker 1: could be an overlap between commerce and banking. Now, that's 436 00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:21,159 Speaker 1: the kind of thing that regulations tried to protect us against, 437 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:24,320 Speaker 1: particularly here in the United States, because there's a pretty 438 00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:27,560 Speaker 1: clear conflict of interest that can rise here in America. 439 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:30,880 Speaker 1: It was described as avoiding a situation in which banks 440 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,640 Speaker 1: end up competing with their own customers in the marketplace, 441 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:38,080 Speaker 1: and considering the amount of money that banks handle, it 442 00:27:38,119 --> 00:27:41,560 Speaker 1: would give the banks an enormous and unfair advantage in 443 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,480 Speaker 1: that regard. Now, there was also the case that the 444 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:47,760 Speaker 1: Liberal Association seemed to be positioning the digital currency as 445 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:50,840 Speaker 1: both a global digital method to move money around without 446 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:54,399 Speaker 1: all those nasty entanglements, but also to be compliant with 447 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:58,119 Speaker 1: the various complicated regulations around the world at the same time, 448 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:02,320 Speaker 1: and a lot of analysts questioned whether that's even possible 449 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:04,280 Speaker 1: or if this is just a case of trying to 450 00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:07,120 Speaker 1: have your cake and eat it too. This idea of 451 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:10,840 Speaker 1: you can't be both, you can't be unfettered and be 452 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:14,840 Speaker 1: able to send money without all these different UH checks 453 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:18,520 Speaker 1: and balances and hurdles in the way, and also be 454 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:21,800 Speaker 1: compliant with all the different regulations. It's the regulations that 455 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:24,720 Speaker 1: create a lot of those issues in the first place, 456 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:27,720 Speaker 1: so you can't be both. There were also concerns about 457 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:32,280 Speaker 1: potential scams and hoaxes that could proliferate should Facebook effectively 458 00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:35,600 Speaker 1: roll out a massive digital currency plan across its billion 459 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:39,240 Speaker 1: plus users, or the possibility that criminals would make use 460 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:41,680 Speaker 1: of the system in order to move money around and 461 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:47,720 Speaker 1: avoid what Obi Wan Kenobi would call imperial entanglements money laundering. 462 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:51,080 Speaker 1: In other words, Then there were the various tax authorities 463 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:53,920 Speaker 1: around the world. Here in the US, cryptocurrency can be 464 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:57,400 Speaker 1: treated like a commodity, So while the purchase of cryptocurrency 465 00:28:57,400 --> 00:28:59,720 Speaker 1: itself isn't really that big a deal from a tax 466 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:03,240 Speaker 1: sage and standpoint, any wealth you gain due to the 467 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:09,640 Speaker 1: appreciation of that cryptocurrency's value is a taxation issue. In 468 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:12,640 Speaker 1: other words, if I bought ten dollars worth of bitcoin 469 00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:16,560 Speaker 1: and then tomorrow the amount the amount I bought is 470 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:20,760 Speaker 1: now worth one hundred dollars, well, that ninety dollars of 471 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:24,760 Speaker 1: wealth that suddenly became mine would also be taxable income. Now, 472 00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:28,480 Speaker 1: it pretty quickly became clear that there were a lot 473 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:31,680 Speaker 1: of challenges ahead for the Libra Association and that the 474 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:34,320 Speaker 1: goal of launching Libra in twenty was going to be 475 00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:38,080 Speaker 1: a long shot. They're all the regulatory hurdles that made 476 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:41,520 Speaker 1: ton of news, but there were also technological obstacles, and 477 00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:45,600 Speaker 1: according to sources like Bloomberg, the approach that the Libra 478 00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:49,479 Speaker 1: Association was planning to take didn't yet work, so that 479 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:55,280 Speaker 1: whole ledger system I was referring to, while the idea existed, 480 00:29:55,360 --> 00:29:59,920 Speaker 1: the actual execution didn't. All Right, when we come back, 481 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:02,880 Speaker 1: I'll talk about the beginning of the end and then 482 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:06,120 Speaker 1: hopefully the end of the end of Libra. But first 483 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:18,880 Speaker 1: let's take another quick break. Okay, So liber Association, CA, 484 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:23,800 Speaker 1: Libra Facebook. They're all under this intense regulatory scrutiny around 485 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:25,760 Speaker 1: the world. I mean here in the US it was 486 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:29,120 Speaker 1: particularly intense, but we were not the only country to 487 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:32,480 Speaker 1: bring up some tough questions, and it scared off a 488 00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:35,000 Speaker 1: few of the partners in the Libra Association. They decided 489 00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:38,480 Speaker 1: to peace out in October two thousand nineteen, just a 490 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:42,480 Speaker 1: couple of months after the public announcement that the Libra 491 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:46,600 Speaker 1: Association was even a thing. PayPal pulled the rip chord 492 00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:49,000 Speaker 1: on its parachute and got the heck out of there. 493 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:52,000 Speaker 1: The company did say it was total rooting for the 494 00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:54,880 Speaker 1: rest of the association, like we're not gonna be a 495 00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:57,000 Speaker 1: part of it, but you guys, good luck. And a 496 00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:00,800 Speaker 1: week later news broke that Visa, Master, car eBay and 497 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:02,800 Speaker 1: a couple of others also decided they were going to 498 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:06,000 Speaker 1: dip out. Now, this was all in advance of the 499 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:09,000 Speaker 1: first official meeting of the Libra Association. They had not 500 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:12,080 Speaker 1: even had their first meeting yet, that was to take 501 00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:16,520 Speaker 1: place on October fourteenth, in two thousand nineteen. David Marcus 502 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:20,880 Speaker 1: would subsequently tweet quote, I would caution against reading the 503 00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: fate of Libra into this update. Of course, it's not 504 00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:27,240 Speaker 1: great news in the short term, but in a way 505 00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:31,880 Speaker 1: it's liberating. Stay tuned for more very soon. Change of 506 00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:35,200 Speaker 1: this magnitude is hard. You know you're onto something when 507 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:38,440 Speaker 1: so much pressure builds up. End quote, which I have 508 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:40,640 Speaker 1: to admit, is a heck of a way to spend 509 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:42,720 Speaker 1: the fact that a significant number of partners in a 510 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:47,280 Speaker 1: fledgling association just bailed on you to say, like, hey, 511 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:49,640 Speaker 1: you know you're onto something would people are scared of 512 00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:55,280 Speaker 1: it seems like, I don't know, I get where he 513 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:58,240 Speaker 1: was going, but it just seems comical to me. Anyway, 514 00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:02,080 Speaker 1: time marched on and Libra continued to wade through a 515 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:05,840 Speaker 1: lot of regulatory resistance. By the spring of twenty twenty, 516 00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:09,000 Speaker 1: just as the world was really going into isolation due 517 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:12,520 Speaker 1: to the pandemic, a few big changes began to take place. 518 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:17,360 Speaker 1: One was the underpinning for Libra itself. Now represent Libra 519 00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:21,040 Speaker 1: announced that rather than using this quote unquote basket of 520 00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:24,000 Speaker 1: assets that was the original plan, remember to kind of 521 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:28,520 Speaker 1: anchor Libra's value in this collection of real world assets 522 00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:32,160 Speaker 1: that the association would invest in. Instead of using that, 523 00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:35,120 Speaker 1: the currency would switch to a model in which Libra 524 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:39,800 Speaker 1: would be backed by single currency stable coins. And this 525 00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:43,040 Speaker 1: gets a little bit complicated. The original idea for Libra, 526 00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:45,000 Speaker 1: as I mentioned earlier, had it as sort of a 527 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:47,880 Speaker 1: stable coin itself. So a stable coin is a type 528 00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:52,400 Speaker 1: of digital currency, usually cryptocurrency. The anchors its value to 529 00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:56,360 Speaker 1: some external thing, such as a fiat currency from a 530 00:32:56,360 --> 00:33:00,160 Speaker 1: specific country or a specific commodity, you know, like gold. 531 00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:03,840 Speaker 1: And the original Libra coin did that with that Libra reserve, 532 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 1: that pool of assets that was initially created by the 533 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:09,880 Speaker 1: Libra Association and then would be fed by the various 534 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:13,960 Speaker 1: Libra users cashing into it. But the new model would 535 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:17,880 Speaker 1: create stable coins for various fiat currencies. For example, there 536 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:20,680 Speaker 1: would be a Libra USD and that would be tied 537 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:24,320 Speaker 1: to the United States dollar, or the Libra eu are 538 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:28,520 Speaker 1: tied to the euro. In theory, if you were to 539 00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:32,680 Speaker 1: put one US dollar into Libra, you would get one 540 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:35,960 Speaker 1: Libra USD. It would be a one to one exchange, 541 00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:39,200 Speaker 1: which would make it really simple for any individual within 542 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:41,800 Speaker 1: a nation to understand how much money they have in Libra, 543 00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:44,920 Speaker 1: because it would be equivalent to whatever the fiat currency 544 00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:47,280 Speaker 1: they were using in their day to day lives happened 545 00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:48,960 Speaker 1: to be. This is one of the issues I have 546 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:51,959 Speaker 1: with digital currencies in general is often it can become 547 00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:56,160 Speaker 1: difficult to figure out how much wealth you actually have 548 00:33:56,440 --> 00:34:00,680 Speaker 1: represented in that digital currency. Xbox game Mer's out there. 549 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:02,600 Speaker 1: If you've been playing for a while, you might remember 550 00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:06,560 Speaker 1: back when all purchases were made in Microsoft points and 551 00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:10,520 Speaker 1: the points did not match up point to dollar, so 552 00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:13,920 Speaker 1: it became hard to judge how expensive something was because 553 00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:16,920 Speaker 1: you would be given the cost in points, but you 554 00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:18,799 Speaker 1: would have to do the conversion in your head of 555 00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:21,239 Speaker 1: all right, well how much money would it cost me 556 00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:24,839 Speaker 1: to buy that number of points, and then that will 557 00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:27,480 Speaker 1: tell me how much this is being sold for. It 558 00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:31,320 Speaker 1: creates this level obviuse skation. Well, by making stable coins 559 00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:34,520 Speaker 1: that are tied to specific FIAT currencies, you remove that. 560 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:37,840 Speaker 1: It makes it more transparent. That's a bonus. But in 561 00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:40,560 Speaker 1: the background you would have the Libra coin itself like 562 00:34:40,640 --> 00:34:43,000 Speaker 1: you have Libra USD for the U. S dollar. Right 563 00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:48,000 Speaker 1: well above Libra USD is Libra proper, and David Marcus 564 00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:52,000 Speaker 1: said it would effectively act as quote a smart contract, 565 00:34:52,040 --> 00:34:56,480 Speaker 1: stitching together fixed nominal weights of underlying stable coins end quote. 566 00:34:57,040 --> 00:34:59,000 Speaker 1: So another way of looking at it is that the 567 00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:03,120 Speaker 1: Libra system would come far more complicated. Gone was this 568 00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:07,000 Speaker 1: idea of a single digital currency that could smoothly operate 569 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:10,920 Speaker 1: across the globe. Now you would have different regional Libra 570 00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:14,719 Speaker 1: currencies that could work pretty smoothly within that region, but 571 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:17,799 Speaker 1: there would still have to be conversion issues whenever you 572 00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:21,120 Speaker 1: wanted to send it to a different region. On May six, 573 00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:26,320 Speaker 1: the Libra Association announced that Stuart Levy, who had previously 574 00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:29,600 Speaker 1: served as an under secretary for Terrorism during two different 575 00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:34,560 Speaker 1: presidential administrations, would become the CEO of the Libra Association. 576 00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:39,640 Speaker 1: Levy has extensive experience in detecting and fighting money laundering, 577 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:42,040 Speaker 1: and the move was seen by some as another attempt 578 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:45,600 Speaker 1: to appease regulators around the world. Here is someone who 579 00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:48,160 Speaker 1: could help make certain that the system that was being 580 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:52,359 Speaker 1: built would not be one that criminals could easily use 581 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:58,399 Speaker 1: to move money around. Then on May, things are moving 582 00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:01,040 Speaker 1: really fast now, because we're still just in the spring 583 00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:05,560 Speaker 1: of Facebook changed the name of its spinoff, Calibra. You know, 584 00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:07,600 Speaker 1: that was the thing that was to be the digital 585 00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:10,920 Speaker 1: wallet that would work with Libra. The new name was 586 00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:14,520 Speaker 1: no v Now. According to a rep from nov Quote, 587 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:18,840 Speaker 1: when we announced Libra and Calibra last June, we wanted 588 00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:23,280 Speaker 1: to demonstrate that Calibra the digital wallet, was closely linked 589 00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:27,200 Speaker 1: to Libra, the global payment system. Both brands were born 590 00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:29,960 Speaker 1: out of the same vision to give people more access 591 00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:33,920 Speaker 1: to the global economy. However, we found that Calibra and 592 00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:37,839 Speaker 1: Libra sounded too similar and people were getting confused, so 593 00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:42,400 Speaker 1: we set out to create distinction between the two end quote. Now, 594 00:36:42,719 --> 00:36:45,840 Speaker 1: maybe that's just the straight up truth. The word no 595 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:49,239 Speaker 1: Vi was derived from novis, the Latin word for new 596 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:53,759 Speaker 1: and via the Latin word for way, so it was 597 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:58,640 Speaker 1: the new way. Personally, I suspect that part of the 598 00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:02,960 Speaker 1: reason for renaming it was to distance Calibra from the 599 00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:06,560 Speaker 1: various news stories, most of which we're shining a critical 600 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:10,160 Speaker 1: light on the whole project. But I must also add 601 00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:11,960 Speaker 1: that's just a hunch on my part. I could be 602 00:37:13,040 --> 00:37:15,600 Speaker 1: wrong about that. I just feel like a lot of 603 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:18,160 Speaker 1: the renaming that we're talking about here was an effort 604 00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:21,560 Speaker 1: to say, like, oh, we got a negative association with 605 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:24,600 Speaker 1: this product, let's change the name and hopefully people won't 606 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:29,320 Speaker 1: carry that association to the new name. So no more Calibra. 607 00:37:29,600 --> 00:37:31,560 Speaker 1: Now we have no Vi. And the plan was to 608 00:37:31,600 --> 00:37:34,760 Speaker 1: incorporate Novi into Messenger and WhatsApp as well as launch 609 00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:38,319 Speaker 1: a standalone Novie wallet app, and this would be how 610 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:42,280 Speaker 1: users would interact with the Libra digital currency okay rolling 611 00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:48,520 Speaker 1: through and the Libra slash Calibra slash nov All of 612 00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:52,000 Speaker 1: that kind of faded from public consciousness. The world was 613 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:54,760 Speaker 1: dealing with a pandemic. The US was in the midst 614 00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:59,719 Speaker 1: of a well put lightly a tumultuous election cycle. There 615 00:37:59,719 --> 00:38:03,960 Speaker 1: were tons of concerns about Facebook, but those concerns mostly 616 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:07,200 Speaker 1: had to do with things like misinformation and hate speech 617 00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:11,359 Speaker 1: and that kind of thing and an election uh interference, 618 00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:14,680 Speaker 1: that sort of stuff, and announced but not yet launched 619 00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:18,759 Speaker 1: digital currency really did not merit much attention from the 620 00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:23,200 Speaker 1: widespread world at that point. In December of the Libra 621 00:38:23,239 --> 00:38:28,280 Speaker 1: Association rebranded and became d M. As in Carpe d M, 622 00:38:28,320 --> 00:38:32,040 Speaker 1: the Latin word for day. The unit of currency would 623 00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:35,480 Speaker 1: also become the d M. The decision had been made 624 00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:38,600 Speaker 1: to launch the currency potentially as early as twenty one, 625 00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:42,600 Speaker 1: with a single stable coin tied to the US dollar. 626 00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:47,359 Speaker 1: So you might ask why did Libra become d M. Well, 627 00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:49,920 Speaker 1: the official word was that this was an effort to 628 00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:55,319 Speaker 1: establish an organizational independence of the association from Facebook, which 629 00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:57,080 Speaker 1: is really in the hot seat at this point for 630 00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:00,200 Speaker 1: lots of unrelated stuff, you know, like the misinformation sation 631 00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:05,920 Speaker 1: and election interference stuff. And then we get to oh boy, okay, 632 00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:09,360 Speaker 1: so if Facebook was in the hot seat in it 633 00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:13,840 Speaker 1: really felt the heat turn up in one, uh, the 634 00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:17,520 Speaker 1: in the United States where the infamous riots slash insurrection 635 00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:20,400 Speaker 1: on January six, and a lot of people are pointing 636 00:39:20,440 --> 00:39:23,759 Speaker 1: towards social networking platforms as playing a pivotal role in 637 00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:28,040 Speaker 1: radicalization and facilitating to spread a misinformation, among other things. 638 00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:32,280 Speaker 1: Then there was this growing movement against big tech companies 639 00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:35,560 Speaker 1: in general and Facebook in particular, as governments around the 640 00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:38,279 Speaker 1: world started to question if perhaps these companies might be 641 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:42,160 Speaker 1: a little too dominant in their respective markets and if 642 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:44,239 Speaker 1: they might not be playing by the rules, if in 643 00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:47,880 Speaker 1: fact they might represent an effective monopoly. Then we have 644 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:52,000 Speaker 1: the incredible volatility of the crypto market in general and 645 00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:55,680 Speaker 1: the response by regulatory bodies in particular to that to 646 00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:59,279 Speaker 1: crypto So right now there is an increased amount of 647 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:03,160 Speaker 1: activity in the world as governments really come to terms 648 00:40:03,160 --> 00:40:07,000 Speaker 1: with cryptocurrencies and they start cracking down on various loopholes 649 00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:10,320 Speaker 1: and contributing to a pretty rough situation in the crypto community. 650 00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:13,360 Speaker 1: There's lots of talk of regulations around the world, something 651 00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:15,680 Speaker 1: that you know, the crypto community was really kind of. 652 00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:20,200 Speaker 1: It was born out of this idea of an unregulated system, 653 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:23,200 Speaker 1: and now we have the potential for regulations to come 654 00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:26,640 Speaker 1: creeping in. Now it would be an oversimplified statement to 655 00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:30,360 Speaker 1: claim that government scrutiny is what is leading to crypto prices, 656 00:40:30,400 --> 00:40:35,520 Speaker 1: declining that's way too simple a view of it, but 657 00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:38,600 Speaker 1: it is a contributing factor. Facebook itself would change its 658 00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:41,320 Speaker 1: name in late one to Meta, and some of the 659 00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:44,920 Speaker 1: names associated with the Libra Slash, Calibra Slash, DM slash 660 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:48,000 Speaker 1: nov project left the company toward the end of the year, 661 00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:52,920 Speaker 1: included David Marcus. He left in November of Morgan Beller 662 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:56,000 Speaker 1: also left. A third employee who's also referenced as a 663 00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:59,839 Speaker 1: co founder, Kevin Wile, also left at the end of one, 664 00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:04,160 Speaker 1: and the project was left without its internal leadership team 665 00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:08,200 Speaker 1: at Facebook. The regulatory bodies were still a huge hurdle, 666 00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:12,200 Speaker 1: Crypto in general was is going through a rough patch, 667 00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:15,440 Speaker 1: and Meta Slash Facebook is still in the critical spotlight 668 00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:18,040 Speaker 1: for lots of different reasons, so it's not really a 669 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:22,360 Speaker 1: surprise that ultimately all the parties decided they needed to 670 00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:26,120 Speaker 1: just pull the plug on the whole thing, sell off 671 00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:29,120 Speaker 1: the assets, and try to recapture at least some of 672 00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:34,240 Speaker 1: the initial investment that was made to create the Libra Association. Now. 673 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:38,840 Speaker 1: Not only is this a setback for Meta's plans to 674 00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:43,880 Speaker 1: incorporate an in system currency program a global payment system 675 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:48,520 Speaker 1: within Facebook's products, like Messenger and WhatsApp. It's also a 676 00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:53,520 Speaker 1: potential enormous blow to the metaverse project under Facebook. UM. 677 00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:57,560 Speaker 1: I have no doubt that one hope that Zuckerberg had 678 00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:02,000 Speaker 1: was that this digital currency, which Facebook would benefit from 679 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:06,440 Speaker 1: in multiple ways, would be the underlying financial transaction system 680 00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:09,600 Speaker 1: within the company's version of the metaverse, whatever that might 681 00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:13,680 Speaker 1: end up being. But I am absolutely certain that the 682 00:42:13,719 --> 00:42:17,640 Speaker 1: idea was, when we have this metaverse product out there 683 00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:22,359 Speaker 1: and people are able to engage in commerce virtually within 684 00:42:22,400 --> 00:42:28,400 Speaker 1: this metaverse, our digital currency is going to be the 685 00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:31,360 Speaker 1: unit of transaction and we are going to make so 686 00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:35,120 Speaker 1: much money on every side of these deals. And now 687 00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:37,799 Speaker 1: that has kind of fallen through. Now, all that being said, 688 00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:41,600 Speaker 1: Facebook did launch no V the digital wallet, but instead 689 00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:44,160 Speaker 1: of being centered on d M you know what used 690 00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:46,880 Speaker 1: to be known as Libra, the wallet actually works with 691 00:42:46,920 --> 00:42:50,120 Speaker 1: a stable coin called paxss that doesn't have any connection 692 00:42:50,160 --> 00:42:53,320 Speaker 1: to Facebook, and this is in partnership with coin base 693 00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:57,040 Speaker 1: also meta slash. Facebook doesn't hold the funds in this case, 694 00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:01,760 Speaker 1: coin Base does, so it's really just created a digital 695 00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:08,040 Speaker 1: wallet that works with another entities uh funding for a 696 00:43:08,280 --> 00:43:11,000 Speaker 1: stable coin. UH. And this was all intended to just 697 00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:13,520 Speaker 1: be a pilot program to test the various features of 698 00:43:13,520 --> 00:43:18,279 Speaker 1: the digital wallet before d M got deployed. But now 699 00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:22,120 Speaker 1: DM is no more, so it's just kind of there. 700 00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:25,360 Speaker 1: It's a digital wallet. There are lots of different digital 701 00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:28,840 Speaker 1: wallets out there. I don't know if no viv is 702 00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:31,440 Speaker 1: a particularly good one or bad one. I don't use it, 703 00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:34,759 Speaker 1: so I don't know, but uh yeah, it's that's all 704 00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:37,920 Speaker 1: it is at this point. So this grand vision of 705 00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:44,080 Speaker 1: this global financial system has now sadly withered away to 706 00:43:44,239 --> 00:43:47,279 Speaker 1: just a digital wallet. I say sadly not because I 707 00:43:47,320 --> 00:43:51,080 Speaker 1: wanted Facebook to succeed necessarily, everyone knows my feelings about 708 00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:56,120 Speaker 1: that company. But rather I do wish there were more 709 00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:59,840 Speaker 1: streamline methods for people to be able to send transaction 710 00:44:00,600 --> 00:44:05,360 Speaker 1: around the world without going through all these different, uh 711 00:44:05,440 --> 00:44:10,400 Speaker 1: you know, loopholes or red tape, or having to find 712 00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:13,239 Speaker 1: a way to minimize the amount of money that's going 713 00:44:13,239 --> 00:44:15,640 Speaker 1: to be taken out of what you're sending so that 714 00:44:15,719 --> 00:44:18,280 Speaker 1: the person who receives it actually gets something that's useful. 715 00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:22,080 Speaker 1: Like that's frustrating, and for a lot of people, it's 716 00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:24,600 Speaker 1: a true hardship. Right. You've got people who are picking 717 00:44:24,680 --> 00:44:28,680 Speaker 1: up stakes and transforming their entire lives in an effort 718 00:44:28,719 --> 00:44:31,480 Speaker 1: to have a better life for themselves and for their 719 00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:34,759 Speaker 1: family back home. And it would be great to have 720 00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:40,360 Speaker 1: systems that facilitated that more effectively, where people were able 721 00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:43,400 Speaker 1: to have more of the money that was sent to 722 00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:47,080 Speaker 1: them actually get to them. I would love to see that. Uh. 723 00:44:47,320 --> 00:44:51,880 Speaker 1: I don't necessarily think that Facebook was a great center 724 00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:57,000 Speaker 1: point to make that happen, because I have lots of 725 00:44:57,040 --> 00:45:00,400 Speaker 1: issues with Facebook the company or Meta the company, but 726 00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:04,000 Speaker 1: I do want to see the effect come about at 727 00:45:04,040 --> 00:45:09,319 Speaker 1: some point. Anyway, it's all moot now because it is 728 00:45:09,360 --> 00:45:11,759 Speaker 1: no more. It all got dissolved. The folks who were 729 00:45:11,800 --> 00:45:15,239 Speaker 1: connected to it have moved on to other projects or 730 00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:18,719 Speaker 1: are currently on hiatus. I think David Marcus posted that 731 00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:22,920 Speaker 1: he's he's currently in a hiatus looking for the next thing, um, 732 00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:26,359 Speaker 1: you know. So, I'm sure they'll all land on their 733 00:45:26,400 --> 00:45:29,800 Speaker 1: feet and they'll be fine. I'm worry about some of 734 00:45:29,840 --> 00:45:31,879 Speaker 1: the lower level folks who are working on this. Don't 735 00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:33,879 Speaker 1: know what happened to them, don't know if they got 736 00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:36,759 Speaker 1: reassigned to other teams within Facebook, if they were let go. 737 00:45:37,520 --> 00:45:40,359 Speaker 1: I have no idea all the companies that were part 738 00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:43,080 Speaker 1: of the Libra association. They're all fine, they're all huge. 739 00:45:43,320 --> 00:45:45,799 Speaker 1: So if they're not fine, it's not because of Libra 740 00:45:45,840 --> 00:45:49,680 Speaker 1: association going under. That's something else. So I thought it 741 00:45:49,719 --> 00:45:53,800 Speaker 1: was an interesting story to cover one That is another 742 00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:56,879 Speaker 1: example of how this is tough right just there, there's 743 00:45:56,920 --> 00:46:00,239 Speaker 1: this this thought in tech that if you of the 744 00:46:00,280 --> 00:46:05,160 Speaker 1: technological capability of doing something, then everything else is easy, 745 00:46:05,239 --> 00:46:08,960 Speaker 1: when in fact, I would argue the technological part, like 746 00:46:09,080 --> 00:46:14,320 Speaker 1: making the thing work technologically is the easiest piece, especially 747 00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:16,480 Speaker 1: when you're talking about stuff that has to do with 748 00:46:17,239 --> 00:46:22,160 Speaker 1: giant global finance. Everything else is way more complicated than 749 00:46:22,200 --> 00:46:25,000 Speaker 1: the tech side. It's relatively simple to get the tech 750 00:46:25,080 --> 00:46:33,239 Speaker 1: to work. It's navigating the incredibly Labrinthian arrangement of financial 751 00:46:33,280 --> 00:46:37,680 Speaker 1: relationships around the world. That's the hard part. Like, it 752 00:46:37,719 --> 00:46:40,920 Speaker 1: doesn't matter how good your widget is if if the 753 00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:45,080 Speaker 1: world is still super complicated, And it's a good lesson 754 00:46:45,120 --> 00:46:47,719 Speaker 1: to remember just in general, not just for the case 755 00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:51,920 Speaker 1: of cryptocurrency or digital currency, but generally speaking, like we 756 00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:55,560 Speaker 1: have this tendency to put a lot of faith in 757 00:46:55,680 --> 00:47:00,680 Speaker 1: technology to solve problems without fully understanding the scope of 758 00:47:00,719 --> 00:47:04,239 Speaker 1: the problems we're tackling. And that's always a danger. I 759 00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:06,640 Speaker 1: hope that you learned something in this episode that you 760 00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:09,560 Speaker 1: enjoyed it. If you have any topics you would like 761 00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:11,600 Speaker 1: me to cover in future episodes of tech Stuff, whether 762 00:47:11,640 --> 00:47:16,839 Speaker 1: it's a technology, a tech company, a trend in tech um, 763 00:47:17,040 --> 00:47:19,920 Speaker 1: anything like that, reach out to me on Twitter to 764 00:47:19,960 --> 00:47:22,840 Speaker 1: handle for the show is text Stuff h s W 765 00:47:23,520 --> 00:47:32,320 Speaker 1: and I'll talk to you again, Really Sick. Text Stuff 766 00:47:32,440 --> 00:47:35,600 Speaker 1: is an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from 767 00:47:35,600 --> 00:47:39,359 Speaker 1: my Heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 768 00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:41,480 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows