Libra Is A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing
By Malcolm on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE
Facebook’s project Libra is supposed to revolutionize the payments industry by issuing a stable cryptocurrency to over 2.5 billion people. 28 (soon to be 100), extremely wealthy companies all running a node to operate a network of finances for 2.5 billion people.
What could possibly go wrong when these profit motivated companies remain under-regulated and continue to “move fast and break things”?
If Libra isn't doubling down on everything that Bitcoin is against, then it seems we’ve all forgotten why blockchain was initially created.
Bitcoin was born out of rebellion against a system that allowed the “chancellor on Brink of Second Bailout”. Satoshi quoted the Times article because it was clear that, when a small group of under-regulated and profit motivated people possess too much power, they tend to act irresponsibility.
More often than not, it’s at the expense and sometimes livelihood of the people they serve. We saw this happen in Venezuela, we saw this happen in Zimbabwe, and we even saw this happen to the US in 2008.
If Facebook can’t even handle our online identities responsibly, then why should we trust them to handle our finances?
Allowing Facebook and other giant tech companies to control our finances would rob us of blockchains true potential. This technology is about so much more than just giving wealthy companies a more passive way of colonizing the poor.
More than anything else, blockchain has the capability of creating a more global and equitable kind of society. One where we can all get a piece of the pie in a digital economy that we’ve helped create.
Just because Facebook says it’s using blockchain to help ”bank the unbanked”, it doesn't mean it’s going to benefit everyone the way it should. If anything, it’s one step closer towards the tech-enabled dystopia that we’ve always feared.
It’s a future where an oligopoly rules over the most private parts of our lives. From Alexa listening to our conversations to Facebook controlling the news we consume, corporations will continue to enrich themselves with our personal data.
There is a difference between allowing people to use technology and allowing technology to use people. Project Libra is the latter, but a truly decentralized blockchain offers a path towards the former.
It can be used as a way for us to directly monetize and manage our online identities instead of making it easier for giant tech companies to. It can enable people to have a more transparent relationship with both their government and other individuals overseas.
Like all technology, blockchain is a tool that will serve the intentions of whoever decides to use it. Let’s make sure those intentions are truly on the behalf of individuals and not the pockets of corporations.
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