1 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:12,479 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:20,320 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and how the 4 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: tech are you? So? The day that this episode goes 5 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 1: out here in the United States is Labor Day. That's 6 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:30,320 Speaker 1: a holiday, which means our office is closed. But I've 7 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:33,480 Speaker 1: brought you a couple of reruns recently and I didn't 8 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:36,519 Speaker 1: want to do that again, so I thought, why not 9 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:41,560 Speaker 1: talk about, you know, some tech projects that never quite coalesced. 10 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: And I'm still going to do that, but you know, 11 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 1: I've done it a couple times before. I've talked about vaporware. 12 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: Vaporware refers to a project that at some point is 13 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 1: announced but it fails to manifest. That doesn't mean that 14 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: all projects that are called vaporware will always be vapor 15 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: where sometimes they do emerge, not always for the better. 16 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 1: For a very long time, I think sort of the 17 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:10,199 Speaker 1: poster child of vaporware for many years was a video game, 18 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:14,520 Speaker 1: and it was titled Duke Nukem Forever. This was considered 19 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: vaporware for more than a decade. The company behind it, 20 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 1: three D Realms, formerly known as Apagee Software announced Duke 21 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:26,800 Speaker 1: Nukem Forever way back in nineteen ninety seven. It would 22 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: not emerge from development hell for more than a decade. 23 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: It did finally come out in twenty eleven to much 24 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: critical disdain. But for this episode, I'm actually going to 25 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,679 Speaker 1: talk about a single tech project that got the acts, 26 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: it did not ever emerge from development, and to talk 27 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 1: about why that is. And in future episodes I am 28 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 1: going to talk about other tech projects that did not 29 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:56,480 Speaker 1: quite make it to market. There's one from Atari in 30 00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: particular I want to talk about because it was one 31 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: of those projects that sounded really interesting, but the closer 32 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 1: you looked at the more you realized, huh, this this 33 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: doesn't seem to be quite the same thing that was 34 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 1: marketed to me. But we'll save that for another episode instead. 35 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: In this one, I want to talk about a cryptocurrency 36 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: that ultimately was called dm but formerly was called Libra. 37 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: Now to do this, let's quickly have a refresher on 38 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: what cryptocurrency is. Specifically, we're talking about a digital currency 39 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:35,239 Speaker 1: and it relies on encryption methodologies in order to track 40 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:41,040 Speaker 1: and process transactions and payments. So this system has to 41 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 1: one be able to ensure that the currency is linked 42 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:50,800 Speaker 1: to specific accounts belonging to specific people or entities. Otherwise, 43 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:53,960 Speaker 1: if you can't establish that, then you can't be sure 44 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:58,359 Speaker 1: that any transaction is legitimate. So it has to be 45 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 1: able to verify that any given account actually possesses the 46 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: funds needed for a transaction. That's first and foremost. Secondly, 47 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 1: the system has to be able to verify that a 48 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 1: transaction actually takes place. That is, it has to be 49 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: able to register that funds have changed hands from one 50 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: account to another. It has to be able to ensure 51 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:21,400 Speaker 1: that no copies of that currency used in the transaction 52 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:24,800 Speaker 1: have been created. Otherwise you could spend the same digital 53 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:28,560 Speaker 1: dollar or whatever multiple times, the whole system would collapse 54 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 1: in short order. Of Essentially, there'd be no protection against 55 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: digital counterfeiting, and obviously that's a huge concern, right, Like 56 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 1: digital files are different from physical goods. We've talked about 57 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:42,280 Speaker 1: this numerous times, particularly in the world of piracy. Like 58 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 1: it's one thing if you were to go to like 59 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: a big box store and shoplift a DVD, like you've 60 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: clearly stolen a copy of that thing, and it's a 61 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: copy that the store could have sold and now they're 62 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: at a loss. They have one fewer unit in their 63 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 1: inventory because you stole it. It's different if it's a file. 64 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 1: If you make a copy of a file, well, the 65 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:10,840 Speaker 1: original file still exists, it hasn't been deleted, it doesn't disappear, 66 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:16,000 Speaker 1: and maybe you wouldn't have purchased this digital file otherwise, 67 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:19,599 Speaker 1: So there's no loss in sales because all you did 68 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,279 Speaker 1: was make a copy. So like there are fundamental differences 69 00:04:23,279 --> 00:04:25,840 Speaker 1: between digital goods and physical goods, well, the same thing 70 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:29,160 Speaker 1: is true of digital currency and physical currency. Right, Like 71 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:34,000 Speaker 1: you can't easily duplicate a dollar bill, you could try 72 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:36,640 Speaker 1: to counterfeit one, but it's hard to do. It's hard 73 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: to do well, at least, I guess technically it's easy 74 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:42,160 Speaker 1: to do if you're doing a really crappy job. But 75 00:04:42,279 --> 00:04:44,560 Speaker 1: you're you're probably gonna get found out if you do that, 76 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:46,920 Speaker 1: So you got to figure out ways to make that 77 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:52,040 Speaker 1: difficult or preferably impossible to do on the digital scale, 78 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:57,200 Speaker 1: or else the whole system doesn't work. So digital currencies 79 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: are tricky. The blockchain has been and sort of the 80 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,680 Speaker 1: foundation for many digital currencies ever since it was introduced 81 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:09,040 Speaker 1: in a white paper for Bitcoin way back in the day. 82 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 1: And I'm not going to go into full detail about 83 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:16,040 Speaker 1: what the blockchain is, but just know that the blockchain, 84 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:19,480 Speaker 1: the design of the blockchain was meant to solve some 85 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 1: of these issues, to be able to serve as a 86 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:27,279 Speaker 1: record of transactions and a means of verifying transactions, and 87 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:30,840 Speaker 1: to make sure that nobody is trying to, you know, 88 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:35,599 Speaker 1: get a little creative and be able to exploit the 89 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:40,160 Speaker 1: system by hacking it or whatever. Now, some digital currencies 90 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 1: are inherently volatile, which means their value can change wildly 91 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:47,880 Speaker 1: in a relatively short amount of time. It's great to 92 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 1: talk about that because when I started working on this episode, 93 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 1: bitcoin's value was at sixty thousand dollars about six three 94 00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:00,839 Speaker 1: hundred and seventy bucks right around that area. Days before 95 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:04,400 Speaker 1: I started working on the episode, it was trading at 96 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:08,360 Speaker 1: more than sixty four thousand dollars per bitcoin. So a 97 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: single bitcoin's value changed by around four grand in just 98 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 1: five days, which is wild. Today, as I record this, 99 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: the value is below sixty thousand dollars, so it's changed 100 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:21,960 Speaker 1: even more now. A little less than a year ago, 101 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:26,479 Speaker 1: bitcoin was valued at around twenty five thousand dollars per bitcoin, 102 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 1: so the value has doubled in less than a year, 103 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: but then in the course of a week it is 104 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:36,280 Speaker 1: dropped by five thousand dollars. That's crazy volatility, and it 105 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:39,920 Speaker 1: makes it really hard to use the currency as an 106 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:44,240 Speaker 1: actual currency because the value of the currency changes so 107 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:48,320 Speaker 1: dramatically and so quickly, even though you're talking about fractions 108 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:52,799 Speaker 1: of a bitcoin per transaction, unless you're moving massive amounts 109 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:56,159 Speaker 1: of wealth around, it could mean that what looks like 110 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: a bargain one day could turn out to be a 111 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:01,000 Speaker 1: case where you're dramatically over paid for something just a 112 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: couple of days later. Right if it turns out the 113 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: nickel you used to buy a candy bar the following 114 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 1: day could have bought you a Chevy that you're gonna think, Wow, 115 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: that was the most expensive candy bar I've ever bought. 116 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 1: And it's not really that I guess that the value 117 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:19,200 Speaker 1: has changed over the course of those days, but it 118 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 1: does mean that if you had held onto that nickel, 119 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:23,080 Speaker 1: you could have bought a lot of candy bars just 120 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:26,240 Speaker 1: a couple of days later. This is one of the 121 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: big reasons why I'm not a fan of bitcoin. Just one. 122 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:34,679 Speaker 1: There are periods where bitcoin's value is a little more stable, 123 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 1: but it's always somewhat volatile. However, there is an alternative 124 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 1: to this kind of cryptocurrency. Bitcoin isn't tied to any 125 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:47,200 Speaker 1: other assets. It is its own thing, But there are 126 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: subsets of cryptocurrencies called stable coins. Now, these currencies link 127 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 1: their value to stable assets such as the US dollar. 128 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: The value of the currency fluctuates with the value of 129 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:03,320 Speaker 1: those assets, but otherwise it's far less volatile than other types. 130 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:06,160 Speaker 1: So you know, the US dollar, obviously we have inflation. 131 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:09,120 Speaker 1: That's been an issue for the last few years, and 132 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:12,280 Speaker 1: that would affect stable coins that were tied to the 133 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 1: US dollar. But even that volatility is nothing compared to 134 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,600 Speaker 1: what you see in a cryptocurrency like bitcoin. So your 135 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:23,160 Speaker 1: typical cryptocurrency also has a system that to some extent 136 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:29,640 Speaker 1: democratizes things. Traditional currencies come from established financial institutions, typically 137 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: ones that have to obey strict regulations. Cryptocurrencies eschew this 138 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:39,280 Speaker 1: centralized financial system to some degree or another. With bitcoin, 139 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:42,439 Speaker 1: all the computers that connect to the Bitcoin ecosystem are 140 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:46,360 Speaker 1: technically they're part of this, so it's democratized across all 141 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 1: of them. There's no centralized bank or anything like that. Now, 142 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:53,920 Speaker 1: Libra would be a little bit different. Its network would 143 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:57,800 Speaker 1: be limited to approved partners, So it's not just any 144 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:01,959 Speaker 1: Yahoo who could join and become part of the Libra association, 145 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:05,839 Speaker 1: but anyone could presumably at least participate in the ecosystem 146 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:09,679 Speaker 1: through the buying and use of digital currency, you know, 147 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:14,920 Speaker 1: converting other currencies or what I sometimes refer to. This 148 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:17,920 Speaker 1: is not accurate, but it is sometimes how I find 149 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 1: myself accidentally referring to them as real currencies and then 150 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:25,600 Speaker 1: digital currencies. That's reductive. It shows a real bias in 151 00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 1: my perspective, but it is something I fall into accidentally, 152 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:31,120 Speaker 1: so it could happen in this episode. Just a heads up. 153 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:35,160 Speaker 1: So let's talk about Libra. So, Facebook, which had not 154 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:39,120 Speaker 1: yet rebranded itself as Meta the company itself was called 155 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:42,320 Speaker 1: Facebook at this time, announced Libra in the summer of 156 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:45,880 Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. They published a white paper about it, and 157 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:49,640 Speaker 1: that document opens by saying, quote Libra's mission is to 158 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:55,520 Speaker 1: enable a simple global currency and financial infrastructure that empowers 159 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:58,440 Speaker 1: billions of people. End quote. By the way, if you 160 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:01,640 Speaker 1: want to read this white paper, I actually recommend using 161 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:05,640 Speaker 1: archive dot org because I mean, just from the topic 162 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: of the episode, you already know Libra doesn't exist anymore. 163 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:14,599 Speaker 1: Even DM, the rebranded version of Libra, doesn't exist anymore. 164 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:19,679 Speaker 1: So the assets online that were records of this are 165 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:22,679 Speaker 1: largely gone because it's it's kind of it's a dead project. 166 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:25,160 Speaker 1: It's moot. But if you use archive dot org you 167 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:28,520 Speaker 1: can go back and read those papers. I recommend you 168 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: do it if you want to learn more about what 169 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:32,560 Speaker 1: it was trying to be. So the concept was Libra 170 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 1: wouldn't just be a cryptocurrency ecosystem, but also one that 171 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:42,440 Speaker 1: would support smart contracts. Smart contracts can be pretty much anything, really. 172 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:45,680 Speaker 1: It's meant to be like a thing built on top 173 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:50,320 Speaker 1: of blockchain that allows for different types of transactions. Those 174 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:54,080 Speaker 1: could be things like the deed to real estate. It 175 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:58,440 Speaker 1: could be a smart contract for a purely digital asset. 176 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:00,360 Speaker 1: It could be all sorts of stuff. But it would 177 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:03,080 Speaker 1: also enable people who might otherwise have little to know 178 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:06,040 Speaker 1: options to bank their money as a way to store 179 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: and move money around, because not everyone in the world 180 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:11,960 Speaker 1: has access to a bank, but a lot of people 181 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:16,440 Speaker 1: do have access to a smartphone. And I genuinely believe 182 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:18,800 Speaker 1: that most of the people who are actually working on 183 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:21,360 Speaker 1: the nuts and bolts of Libra were doing so with 184 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:25,840 Speaker 1: this ideal in mind, that this could be a system 185 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:31,000 Speaker 1: that could empower people, particularly people in developing countries, and 186 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 1: to remove barriers that otherwise make it really difficult to 187 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:38,800 Speaker 1: deal with money across borders. Transferring money is often hard 188 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:42,520 Speaker 1: or impossible, or at the very least very expensive, particularly 189 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:45,240 Speaker 1: when you want to move money from one country to another. 190 00:11:45,559 --> 00:11:49,280 Speaker 1: So Libra could potentially open up opportunities for billions of 191 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:51,680 Speaker 1: people to be able to do this in a way 192 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:55,240 Speaker 1: that wouldn't represent a huge hardship. That I think is 193 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: a fairly noble ideal. The problem is bringing that ideal 194 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:02,280 Speaker 1: in to reality, because that was going to take a 195 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:05,720 Speaker 1: lot of work and a lot of luck, and Libra 196 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 1: would find problems with both of those things. I'll explain more, 197 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:12,240 Speaker 1: but first let's take a quick break to thank our sponsors. 198 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:24,360 Speaker 1: Before the break, I was talking about how Libra was 199 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:29,560 Speaker 1: going to encounter some hurdles in its path toward empowering 200 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:33,160 Speaker 1: billions of people and also in the process generating a 201 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 1: a heck ton amount of revenue for the various partners 202 00:12:37,559 --> 00:12:42,040 Speaker 1: in the Libra Association, particularly Facebook. Well. For one thing, 203 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:45,240 Speaker 1: one of the challenges that they faced right away was 204 00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:48,360 Speaker 1: a matter of trust, so there was no single company 205 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 1: serving as the governing body that was controlling the Libra network. 206 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,920 Speaker 1: But the fact that Facebook was spearheading this effort gave 207 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 1: a lot of people pause because this is the same 208 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:04,160 Speaker 1: company that has built a multi billion dollar business that 209 00:13:04,440 --> 00:13:09,040 Speaker 1: centers around the collection and commoditization of user data. Most 210 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:11,320 Speaker 1: of the time, when Facebook is in the news, it's 211 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:14,640 Speaker 1: not positive for the company. It's usually some story about 212 00:13:14,679 --> 00:13:17,520 Speaker 1: how the company is aggressively finding new ways to generate 213 00:13:17,679 --> 00:13:20,840 Speaker 1: enormous amounts of revenue by trading and user information in 214 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:23,439 Speaker 1: some way, or trying to find new ways to attract 215 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:27,160 Speaker 1: more users in order to sell their information, or how 216 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:30,199 Speaker 1: they are a bad steward of information, or how they 217 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:34,679 Speaker 1: are aware of the potential negative impact their product has. Really, 218 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:37,959 Speaker 1: I shouldn't say their product that their various platforms have 219 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 1: on their product, because we're not really the users. We're 220 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:45,760 Speaker 1: the product here because it's our information that's being bought 221 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:50,720 Speaker 1: and sold. So Facebook's customers aren't its users. Facebook's customers 222 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 1: are advertisers. We're the product, right Anyway, that's not something 223 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:59,880 Speaker 1: that is great pr if you're also trying to push 224 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:02,880 Speaker 1: out a digital currency, So there were real worries that 225 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:07,360 Speaker 1: a digital currency introduced by Facebook would primarily be meant 226 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:10,520 Speaker 1: as a way of generating yet more wealth for the corporation. 227 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:13,640 Speaker 1: Anything else would just be of secondary importance. Could it 228 00:14:13,679 --> 00:14:17,440 Speaker 1: empower billions of people? Maybe, but that wasn't really what 229 00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:20,280 Speaker 1: it was about. That was the perception. Now that might 230 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:23,480 Speaker 1: be an unfair assumption, but I would argue it's also 231 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:27,640 Speaker 1: an understandable one based upon Facebook's long history. Now, for 232 00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:31,520 Speaker 1: the record, Facebook from the beginning, at least based on 233 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:35,440 Speaker 1: the white paper, envisioned a consortium of organizations that would 234 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:39,520 Speaker 1: serve as the governing entity over the blockchain and currency, 235 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:43,560 Speaker 1: and this was initially called the Libra Association, which in 236 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:47,280 Speaker 1: itself was designated as a not for profit organization that 237 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 1: would be headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. There were twenty eight 238 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:58,360 Speaker 1: founding members listed and it included companies like MasterCard, Visa, PayPal, eBay, 239 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:02,000 Speaker 1: Stripe and more. Though later on some of these organizations 240 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:04,280 Speaker 1: would say that they had never signed any kind of 241 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:08,480 Speaker 1: official agreement and so calling them a founding organization would 242 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:11,120 Speaker 1: be misleading. It was more like they were interested, but 243 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:14,600 Speaker 1: they never committed to it. In fact, between June twenty 244 00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 1: nineteen and the first meeting of this association in October 245 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:21,920 Speaker 1: of that same year, seven of the twenty eight companies 246 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 1: withdrew their names from the proverbial hat. So PayPal was 247 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:28,280 Speaker 1: the first to hit that eject button on October fourth, 248 00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:33,280 Speaker 1: and on the eleventh, several companies, including Visa, Stripe, and 249 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:36,120 Speaker 1: MasterCard all bailed in a matter of just a couple 250 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: of hours. So, according to the Verge, by the time 251 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:42,240 Speaker 1: the meeting happened on October fourteenth, every major US payment 252 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:45,840 Speaker 1: processor that had been announced as part of this association 253 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 1: had abandoned it. So they were all out before the 254 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:52,240 Speaker 1: first meeting happened. That's a big problem, right. The payment 255 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:57,400 Speaker 1: processing companies certainly would lend legitimacy to, if not actual 256 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:02,520 Speaker 1: process and structure to the Libra Association, but they all left. 257 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:05,680 Speaker 1: Why though, Well, perhaps a big part of that was 258 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: the first meeting would include deciding what roles and responsibilities 259 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:12,680 Speaker 1: each member of the association would actually be responsible for, 260 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:15,320 Speaker 1: and some of these companies had leaders who were likely 261 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:19,880 Speaker 1: saying something like, Yeah, I'd rather bounce now rather than 262 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:22,960 Speaker 1: face obligations that I'm not ready or able to meet. 263 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:26,880 Speaker 1: But perhaps more importantly, governments in general, and regulators in 264 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 1: particular around the world, including the United States, were starting 265 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:36,120 Speaker 1: to scrutinize digital currencies in general, cryptocurrencies in particular, and 266 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,600 Speaker 1: there were serious concerns that, you know, these currencies could 267 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:44,560 Speaker 1: be used by say, criminals and terrorists to launder money 268 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:46,520 Speaker 1: and to move it around the world in ways that 269 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:50,080 Speaker 1: would be difficult or impossible to detect and track and 270 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:54,240 Speaker 1: police and big established companies aren't typically not very keen 271 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:57,720 Speaker 1: on being associated with systems that potentially could facilitate the 272 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:01,880 Speaker 1: funding of say, a terrorist action or whatnot that is 273 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:07,000 Speaker 1: very bad pr so this project represented far too great 274 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:10,879 Speaker 1: a risk. Besides, Facebook already had a really bad reputation 275 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:14,760 Speaker 1: with regulators as far as protecting user information went, so 276 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:18,240 Speaker 1: having a project that emerged from a company with such 277 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:22,040 Speaker 1: a bad reputation was kind of a huge detriment from 278 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:25,200 Speaker 1: the start. That just got worse as government officials became 279 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:29,399 Speaker 1: very interested in Facebook's operations following a whistleblower coming forward 280 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: with internal documents showing some extremely unflattering stuff about the company. 281 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:37,760 Speaker 1: So Facebook, as partly a result of this, or I 282 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:40,240 Speaker 1: would argue as a result of this, underwent a name 283 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:43,800 Speaker 1: change to Meta and backed away from Libra as well. 284 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:47,800 Speaker 1: I think the name change to Meta was largely to 285 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:53,040 Speaker 1: distance itself from those accusations that were made by the whistleblower, 286 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:56,280 Speaker 1: and that this was an attempt to kind of like 287 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:59,920 Speaker 1: wipe the slate clean of kind of a desperate attempt. Now. 288 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:03,520 Speaker 1: I think Meta would say the rebrand was because the 289 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:07,120 Speaker 1: company was so much more than just Facebook, and there 290 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:11,320 Speaker 1: was this new focus on creating the metaverse, something that 291 00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:14,800 Speaker 1: continues to be kind of a well, joke is too 292 00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:19,320 Speaker 1: strong a word. It certainly mocked the concept of the 293 00:18:19,359 --> 00:18:23,560 Speaker 1: metaverse and Meta's continued dedication to trying to bring that about. 294 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:25,760 Speaker 1: I think a lot of people are kind of just 295 00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:29,360 Speaker 1: not sold on the metaverse idea at all. Anyway. As 296 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:32,359 Speaker 1: part of this effort, Facebook, I guess, sensing that this 297 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:36,560 Speaker 1: was kind of a non starter, backed away from Libra, 298 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:41,600 Speaker 1: and that's when Libra had its own rebranding and became DM, 299 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:43,920 Speaker 1: partly in an effort to provide a little more distance 300 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:49,320 Speaker 1: between the association and Facebook slash Meta Plus. At this point, 301 00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:52,000 Speaker 1: like most of the founding companies were no longer part 302 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:55,280 Speaker 1: of this association and the plans had changed quite a bit, 303 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:58,840 Speaker 1: So instead of offering a single stable coin currency tied 304 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:02,520 Speaker 1: to lots of different assets. The plan shifted to offering 305 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:06,359 Speaker 1: different digital currencies, each one anchored to a different real 306 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:10,040 Speaker 1: world asset. However, regulators were still concerned about how this 307 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:13,760 Speaker 1: could potentially disrupt the financial infrastructure of various countries, including 308 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:16,560 Speaker 1: the United States, and it became clear that any path 309 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:20,560 Speaker 1: forward was going to be extremely challenging and time consuming. 310 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:23,879 Speaker 1: And it just turned out the Association wasn't willing to 311 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:26,920 Speaker 1: stick it out, that there was too much uncertainty about 312 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:30,480 Speaker 1: what would or would not be allowed, that the vision 313 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:33,320 Speaker 1: was just going to be compromised multiple times in an 314 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:36,760 Speaker 1: effort to be able to meet whatever regulations would emerge. 315 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:40,680 Speaker 1: And so in early twenty twenty two, the DM Association 316 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:44,159 Speaker 1: announced it was actually selling off all assets to Silvergate 317 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:48,159 Speaker 1: Capital Corporation for the princely sum of one hundred and 318 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:50,280 Speaker 1: eighty two million dollars. So you might think, oh, well, 319 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:53,159 Speaker 1: maybe Silvergate would make something of it, except that the 320 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:57,000 Speaker 1: following year Silvergate Capital liquidated. That was the bank that 321 00:19:57,080 --> 00:19:59,720 Speaker 1: in March twenty twenty three went out a business and 322 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 1: liq Quid dated largely because of the spectacular collapse of FTX, 323 00:20:04,359 --> 00:20:08,680 Speaker 1: So that was the sad but short Tale of Libra. 324 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:11,879 Speaker 1: I hope all of you had an amazing weekend. For 325 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:13,640 Speaker 1: those of you in the United States, I hope you're 326 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:15,960 Speaker 1: having a great Labor Day and I will talk to 327 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:26,560 Speaker 1: you again really soon. Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. 328 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:31,880 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 329 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:37,560 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.