Foreword
I eschew traditional writing standards. I write as I speak and I speak as I write. The ideas and writings henceforth are honest and unedited.
Facebook's Libra Coin: Fundamentally Flawed, Creatively Devoid and Pointlessly Abstracted
This isn't an article about the potential profitability of Libra or it's future value. There's plenty of coins out there, absolutely useless coins, that can make you plenty of money in the speculative market.
That being said, Libra is backed by a large company, with a clear goal and purpose. It's a coin developed by a professional team, of professional developers, with professional business people working out all of the numbers and angles. It's practically destined to succeed.
But none of that matters to me. Nor is it relevant at all to my arguments against it.
Libra is representative of perhaps everything that is wrong with Cryptocurrency today. And it may very well become a major barrier to the further evolution of Cryptocurrency, Decentralized Networks and Transactions as a technology.
A quick look at the Libra website will tell you everything you need to know about it's technology. It is, for all practical purposes, a cookie-cutter implementation of a modern Blockchain. I don't need to elaborate on that, because you, dear reader, have likely encountered at the very least, dozens of projects that all read the same.
But it's defining feature, The Reserve, is perhaps the most insulting to the spirit of this industry itself.
The idea of replacing normal fiat currency with Cryptocurrency is a compelling one. We, as Individuals, would finally have a store of wealth not tied to any government or organization.
The empowerment of the individual is central to this idea.
What IS currency?
Currency is at it's core a representation of the efforts of individuals.
So what is Libra? In essence, Libra is not a representation of the efforts of the individual. It is a representation of a representation of the efforts of individuals. It is, at it's core, bound to the nature of the currency and assets it represents.
And who decides those assets? Not the people, but specifically, an organization tied to a multi-national corporation.
Libra doesn't just do nothing new under the sun, it takes a step back by creating a currency based on government-issued currency. And if we wanted that, we would just wait for the United States, European Union or perhaps the central banks, to extend us that option.
The price we may pay for the stable, currency/asset-backed Libra is that we give up the potential future of a Currency by the people. A free and open currency that may someday extend beyond the stars.
-Vinzalf
