Those of us involved in cryptocurrency are well aware of the progress being made. We also know the impact that cryptocurrency can have on the world, specifically the governments and central banks who, at present, have so much power.
That said, cryptocurrency is still a rather small industry. Estimates are there are around 100 million users globally of this alternative form of money. Even if that is off to the downside by 20%-30%, it still shows how few people are involved. Considering the world has over 7 billion people on it, with more than 4.5 billion online, we still have a long way to go before we are even close to mass adoption.
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Last year, we saw an announcement that sent ripples throughout the power structures of the world. When Facebook presented the Libra project, government officials globally all felt as if they were kicked in the gut. It was one of those universal "aha" moments where they saw their clout severely compromised.
What made Libra such a threat? Simply, it is a numbers game. If that coin ever came into being, you would suddenly have more than 2 billion people potentially using it. This was a serious wake up call since it far exceeds the population of any single country.
Once again, to anyone who was involved in cryptocurrency at the time of the announcement, none of this is novel. We all saw what took place and realized how powerful a move it was.
This story was reminded to me through an article I recently came across. What is interesting is not the article but, rather, where it was. This was not from one of the major crypto sites. Instead, it came from a futurist who follows hundreds of different technologies, including blockchain and cryptocurrency.
Here is the headline. Certainly, this is something that could have appeared on Cointelegraph.
Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra was so powerful it could have ended state control of money
We also see this exerpt:
Who is more powerful today – Trump, Xi, or Zuckerberg? Think about it … Technology and an increasingly connected society are now making individuals more powerful than the state.
It is a valid point and one that is starting to gain a great deal of momentum within the futurist/technology circles. We obviously are seeing some crossover as the discuss around censorship is heating up as the social media companies flex their muscles during this election.
Facebook's project was such a threat because it was direct competition for global currencies. Whereas decentralized cryptocurrency can exist along with the USD, JPY, or EURO, the Libra was to be backed by a basket of existing currencies. Over time, the foundation was going to amass a large stake in whatever currencies it was focusing upon, putting it in position to exert a great deal of control over governmental policy.
Imagine ten years from now if, say, 40 percent of all US dollars were held on deposit by Facebook, or the council, to back the issued Libra coins, which would have by then undoubtedly become widely used across the world. We can only hypothesise that US dollars might constitute a 30 percent weight of Libra’s so called “Asset-backing basket,” which would be made up of a variety of other currencies and other widely traded financial assets, in order to help keep Libra’s exchange rate steady – just in the way sovereign countries keep their own currencies stable.
The answer to this was, obviously, the move towards CBDC. It is no wonder that most central banks, at their governments request, are looking into bringing out a digital currency of their own. There is no way to compete with a company the size of Libra if they stick to the old model.
Of course, this is the "overnight attack". Facebook has the existing clout to instantly flip the digital currency switch. However, we see another approach that is stealth yet, hopefully, over time, will be equally as powerful.
There is no doubt the technological advantage of cryptocurrency. The benefits far outpace what is being offered with the present system. In fact, considering there are 1.7 billion people on the planet who are categorized as "unbanked", just catering to them is an enormous market.
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This is where the entire cryptocurrency industry enters the picture. While we lack the same numbers as Facebook, by a wide margin, there is a great deal of expansion taking place. Presently, the central banks are fumbling around with their studies, research, analysis, and whatever other things they are doing. The Chinese were the first to bring out a CBDC and it was only beta tested recently. In reality, the banks are not close to releasing them.
Here is the ace in the hole. Each week, cryptocurrency, as a whole, keeps expanding. More people are getting involved as well as token distribution keeps increasing. This is vital. If we can sustain strong growth rates in each area, the time factor will work to our advantage.
This is a giant race, one that pits the developers around the world against the governments and banking establishment. One operates in a bureaucratic systems while the other is disorganized, grass-roots, and organic in nature. History shows how the later can be very powerful.
As we can see from the linked article, word is starting to spread. Many who look at trends see the power behind cryptocurrency (as well as blockchain). This is another avenue where the message is getting out. We are not dealing with some "pie in the sky, hope it works some day" idea. Cryptocurrency is a thriving industry already.
We just need to keep up momentum. Sometimes it feels as if we are existing in a vacuum and nobody is paying attention to what is taking place. The reality is that there are people out there watching and word is spreading.
The next year will be very interesting. While the central banks are trying to bring their product to market, the crypto industry will keep expanding.
We will see who gains the upper hand.
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If Facebook enters the scene with Libra, it would be the end of the function of the Central Banks, it would be an organization as powerful as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Payments Bank (BIS) or the World Bank, then this would completely compromise the hegemony and world monetary systems in private hands, and more if it is a company that with simple clicks could change the system overnight with unrestricted access to the most remote places on the planet, imagine with colo that it charges 0.001% of commission for the use of its currency or operation, it would already have another market niche in which no one could compete, and of course it would steal that slice of the cake from the financial system that is actually private, and central banks have seen who makes the decisions There, look at the FED, its boards of directors are made up of private companies, so if we talk about private, everything is private or the vast majority, although it seems that it is public.
but hey time will tell if we are well, the important thing is to stay in this industry that thank God we have come on time even if it is little, little by little we are building our heritage, here, so if the CBDC come, well we are ready to interact With it we already have prior knowledge and we will be able to take advantage of opportunities such as arbitrage that could be generated between each other, so the industry is booming and leaps and bounds, if not because pay pal accepts BTC something they have seen and well we go to the queue behind with our toy coins but tomorrow maybe there will not be so many toys but look at the BTC it started as a toy but it is already an investment instrument.
Greetings and thanks for the reflections.
sorry for the bad english but i speak spanish and i do my homework little by little.
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I think you nailed it. Facebook would instantly (or quickly) become more powerful than all of the central banks and other monetary institutions. The way the Libra was set up, Facebook and their partners would end up with a vast amount of the world's fiat currency.
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If that is why they will not leave it unless it is intelligent and does it through the Central Banks or let the government do it for example by giving it a shareholding in the company, that will be the only way or if you create a new company and make you participate to the government, hey, that would be something they could do but I don't know why it hasn't occurred to them to share the cake with the governments and that would be the only way they will let them do this, otherwise they will go out of their way.
But hey time will tell the truth for now let's hope at least we can see the full movie to see where it ends.
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Interesting how fast this year went by, I remember the crack down on Facebooks libra last year like it was yesterday, it was a sad turn out, rumour had it that Zuck was going to seek for licence outside the state but I guess that did not go as planned.
Now that countries have started to make moves concerning their digital currencies, maybe Libra will be reconsidered because I just don't think Zuck is done yet, this time, he will even have more major companies involved.
I wonder whats going on in Voice, it is supposed to be a bigger deal than it currently seems, onboarding the masses? No, Eos point of contact? No, we hardly even see Brendan or Dan use it or tweet about it or through it. Is social media on a blockchain that difficult? If so, Hive really is one hell of a kind.
Well I know "centralised" central bank currencies will be fun to have, based on usability, but in contrast, i wonder how much it will have to do with programmability like the decentralized alternatives.
Voice did not seem to take off like many expected. I think the KYC for social media is a bad idea. However, it is still in beta I guess so there is still time for things to be improved.
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I think this is what people fail to understand, they think decentralised coin is the danger to fiat currency or the USD and others. Truth is, this keeps crypto a little bit in the deep without the needed exposure or traction it should have. I don't know what happened with Libra but then I'm glad it wasn't as successful as it might have turned out. Facebook already is a huge entity, controls people lives and data. Imagine if it Libra sets it successfully.
We need the Audience, imagine BTC having the global audience Facebook has
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Facebook got some blowback and many of the initial companies who signed up as block validators pulled out.
I figure the project will be going forward. We need to keep attacking Facebook and chipping away all that we can.
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It might have been a force to reckon with had the initial companies who signed up as block validators stayed in. Oh my!
The challenge is many who signed on, such as Visa and Mastercard, have businesses that rely heavily on the present financial system and did not want to risk blowback from the regulators if they participated in the Libra project.
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Your current Rank (25) in the battle Arena of Holybread has granted you an Upvote of 17%
Definitely a deal breaker
between CBDC and cryptocurrencies in the market.
The benefit will be tenfold for the ones with deep pocket
More money, more opportunity for us.
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Solid thoughts here. The entire moves on the crypto space is the numbers. The token that losses, does so with number and the one that bulls also responds to numbers. I know how much impact the Social-media backed crypto like Libra would have made. Today in Nigeria, Socialmedia - Facebook and Twitter has become the jury for the masses and the only way they tend to hold leaders to accountability. Assume this strength was backed by a token, then we'll have lots of unrest spiced so as to make the supporters rich. Thus, marketing strategies used by crypto and blockchain projects becomes vryu crucial to have the numbers coming.
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With little to no tourism, I'm getting more and more guests booking/making purchases with crypto, mainly Bitcoin. Travellers to Jamaica, of all places. The reality is adoption is (already) here. There was never that one moment where we could say "yep, e-mail is everywhere", same goes for crypto.
These changes will occur suddenly. It’s like the Covid crisis where one day you wake up and the world is no longer the same. I think a global economic reset will cause the usage of crypto to accelerate. And it will probably happen on a Sunday night. :)
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Have you head about the newly launch UBI project Circles? It's also around alternative currency but build with trust that makes it inclusive and localize. Check it out: http://joincircles.net/
I see CBDC as "cheating" with people in name of "Cryptocurrency".
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Cryptocurrencies cannot be forbidden anymore and the fear of using them in money laundering or other illegal activities started to diminish more and more. Countries started using existing blockchains to improve operations and decreases costs, others are building their own decentralized network and ready to launch their own cryptocurrencies. The crypto revolution is around the corner and we are living it as we speed. Only those blind or benighted will loose today's opportunities in the blockchain space.
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