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Ultimately, the goal seems to be "one currency to rule them all." The peg may prove necessary only initially, to gain confidence. Unlike most other currencies
by cs702 7y ago
Ultimately, the goal seems to be "one currency to rule them all." The peg may prove necessary only initially, to gain confidence.
Unlike most other currencies, Facebook's new currency will be readily available to and easily usable by virtually everyone everywhere, and it will likely have very low transaction costs -- much lower than those of most financial intermediaries. You will be able to use it as easily from New York as from Timbuktu, bypassing the inefficiencies and high fees of the legacy financial system.
Why use traditional nation-backed money when you can click a button on your phone instead?
Facebook seems to be gradually morphing into a sort of planet-wide nation.
- empath75 7y agoThey’ll also be able to track more purchases people make to sell you more ads
- stephen_g 7y ago> Why use traditional nation-backed money when you can click a button on your phone instead? Wait, you can't do that with your nation-backed currency? In Australia, I can literally open my bank app and send money to any Australian account with just a phone number and they receive it in 30 seconds or so with no fees... Yeah, international transfers are a little harder, but for domestic transfers it's super easy.
- stickfigure 7y agoHere in the US, moving money is a huge PITA. Unless you both bank at the same bank, money usually takes days to move. And banking at the same bank is no guarantee it will happen faster. Private party transactions up into the thousands of dollars (say, buying a used car) generally require cash. It's incredibly archaic.
- TazeTSchnitzel 7y agoIt's not like there isn't already tons of innovation in the fast-international-transfers space. PayPal is one and has been around for years. TransferWise is newer and direct-to-your-account.