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I think Facebook's reputation will be enough to relegate this thing to the ash heap. The only people who are going to be interested in Facebook coins are some s

I think Facebook's reputation will be enough to relegate this thing to the ash heap. The only people who are going to be interested in Facebook coins are some subset of cryptocurrency enthusiast who can find value in moving their cryptocurrency into a coin that will have more onramps to spendable money. For everyone else, it's going to be viewed as yet another digital money app you have to hook up to your bank account and there will be little incentive to do so since everyone is already comfortable with their cryptocurrency/venmo/paypal/cashapp of choice. When you mix in Facebook's horrible reputation, particularly with regard to tracking and privacy abuse I think we're going to find that people mostly just ignore this offering.

jrvxo 7y ago
Facebook's reputation outside HN is not bad. In fact I'd argue that in undeveloped countries it's pretty, pretty good.
- Bombthecat 7y ago
  That too! This coin could be the second naira..
- okmokmz 7y ago
  >Facebook's reputation outside HN is not bad It depends who you talk to. The only people I know who still use, or don't hold a negative view of, Facebook are my parents, grandparents, and other old people who certainly won't be purchasing Facebook's "cryptocurrency". The vast majority of the young people I talk to, as well as other engineers, have a negative view of Facebook and don't use their services (aside from maybe Instagram). The latter is the group that would potentially be interested in crypto, but they won't be buying it from Facebook. Personally, I hope Facebook fails spectacularly
- kerng 7y ago
  I'm not sure about that... 3 of my friends have quit Facebook last few months because of the company's reputation.
buboard 7y ago
Facebook is trusted by billions of people every day. I would trust them with a crypto wallet more than any of the crypto exchanges that have been hacked in the past.
- root_axis 7y ago
  Well, Facebook has a pretty poor history with regard to security, so I'm not so sure either way.
  - buboard 7y ago
    Do they ?
    - root_axis 7y ago
      Yes. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/09/50-million-facebook-accounts-breached-by-an-access-token-harvesting-attack/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/09/50-mi...
      - buboard 7y ago
        Well no, facebook has pretty good security. 50 Mil stolen credentials in 15 years out of what is probably more than ten billion accounts is nothing.
        root_axis 7y ago
        https://www.cbsnews.com/news/millions-facebook-user-records-exposed-amazon-cloud-server/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/millions-facebook-user-records-... I'm guessing your response will be that it wasn't Facebook's fault. I would also note that there aren't even 10 billion people living on earth, so it sounds like you're just making stuff up.
        buboard 7y ago
leppr 7y ago
You are severely over estimating the integrity of cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Some of the most highly valued "cryptocurrencies" today are centralized tokens handled by companies with worst reputations than Facebook (XRP, EOS, Tron, ...), yet people do buy and use them. If anything the communities from these tokens might flock en masse to Facebook coin. And if Facebook actually manages to pull off a system where they can't be compelled to freeze accounts, it might also steal the user base from those traditional payment apps.
- root_axis 7y ago
  > yet people do buy and use them. I mean some people do, but they're a very small niche. > communities from these tokens might flock en masse to Facebook coin Yes, I agree, that's what I said in my OP, but this is a relatively small group of people, and they will likely only use it as an onramp into spendable money and continue to favor their preferred token.
- buboard 7y ago
  and even bitcoin, between its drugdealing beginnings , and cartel behavior of miners is not much more trustworthy. What actualy matters is that all facebook users will learn what a digital wallet is and will become a potential cryptocurrency user.

jrvxo 7y ago

Facebook's reputation outside HN is not bad. In fact I'd argue that in undeveloped countries it's pretty, pretty good.

Bombthecat 7y ago
That too! This coin could be the second naira..
okmokmz 7y ago
>Facebook's reputation outside HN is not bad It depends who you talk to. The only people I know who still use, or don't hold a negative view of, Facebook are my parents, grandparents, and other old people who certainly won't be purchasing Facebook's "cryptocurrency". The vast majority of the young people I talk to, as well as other engineers, have a negative view of Facebook and don't use their services (aside from maybe Instagram). The latter is the group that would potentially be interested in crypto, but they won't be buying it from Facebook. Personally, I hope Facebook fails spectacularly
kerng 7y ago
I'm not sure about that... 3 of my friends have quit Facebook last few months because of the company's reputation.

buboard 7y ago

Facebook is trusted by billions of people every day. I would trust them with a crypto wallet more than any of the crypto exchanges that have been hacked in the past.

root_axis 7y ago
Well, Facebook has a pretty poor history with regard to security, so I'm not so sure either way.
- buboard 7y ago
  Do they ?
  - root_axis 7y ago
    Yes. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/09/50-million-facebook-accounts-breached-by-an-access-token-harvesting-attack/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/09/50-mi...
    - buboard 7y ago
      Well no, facebook has pretty good security. 50 Mil stolen credentials in 15 years out of what is probably more than ten billion accounts is nothing.
      - root_axis 7y ago
        https://www.cbsnews.com/news/millions-facebook-user-records-exposed-amazon-cloud-server/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/millions-facebook-user-records-... I'm guessing your response will be that it wasn't Facebook's fault. I would also note that there aren't even 10 billion people living on earth, so it sounds like you're just making stuff up.
        buboard 7y ago

leppr 7y ago

You are severely over estimating the integrity of cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Some of the most highly valued "cryptocurrencies" today are centralized tokens handled by companies with worst reputations than Facebook (XRP, EOS, Tron, ...), yet people do buy and use them. If anything the communities from these tokens might flock en masse to Facebook coin. And if Facebook actually manages to pull off a system where they can't be compelled to freeze accounts, it might also steal the user base from those traditional payment apps.

root_axis 7y ago
> yet people do buy and use them. I mean some people do, but they're a very small niche. > communities from these tokens might flock en masse to Facebook coin Yes, I agree, that's what I said in my OP, but this is a relatively small group of people, and they will likely only use it as an onramp into spendable money and continue to favor their preferred token.
buboard 7y ago
and even bitcoin, between its drugdealing beginnings , and cartel behavior of miners is not much more trustworthy. What actualy matters is that all facebook users will learn what a digital wallet is and will become a potential cryptocurrency user.