"Are you worried about the prospect of a Facebook or Telegram coin?"
No. Let me elaborate. Since the very early days, I have said that we will eventually see corporate coins,
like Facebook Coin or Telegram Coin.
We will see pegged digital currencies, or "stable coins," that are developed by large banks.
We will eventually also see central bank digital currencies, such as Fed Coin or Digi Dollar.
It could be any central bank in the world that does this. All of these have one thing in common: they are fiat.
They are centralized, censorable, bordered, controlled, [permissioned], and closed systems...
that have the same characteristics of fiat, but are simply now digital. Guess what?
We already have digital fiat. All banks operate primarily with digital fiat.
About 92% of the money supply in the world is digital fiat, with no physical equivalent in cash.
The only difference here is the implementation. Instead of a Microsoft SQL Database,
it is implemented as a blockchain database, but both are controlled by a central operator.
Nothing has changed here at all. Facebook will not transmit 'FaceCoin' across borders...
without complying to all the banking regulations.
Facebook will not be able to offer their coin without strict KYC/AML [policies], any more than PayPal can.
Facebook will not produce a coin that is censorship resistant, open, decentralized, neutral, or borderless.
It will not be similar to any cryptocurrency. They will recreate the world of digital dollars,
just like PayPal and Venmo, etc.
Sure, they may be massively successful, but they will compete not against cryptocurrencies.
They will be competing against other banks.
The product they are offering does not differentiate [enough] from the digital fiat that banks offer.
They could offer better user experience, [transaction] speeds, or customer service.
Perhaps more brand recognition for their digital fiat than Visa, JPMorgan Chase, PayPal, or Venmo.
[Those companies] should be very scared because they will see more competition from Silicon Valley.
None of this competes against cryptocurrencies. The differentiator for cryptocurrencies is freedom.
Open, neutral, decentralized, borderless, and censorship resistant money for the entire world,
without discrimination, identification, or control.
None of those features can be offered by these coins. If you believe those features are needed in the world,
and I can tell you that they are, though perhaps not [yet] by your average American or western European...
They already have PayPal, Venmo, and all of those [options]. Adding 'FaceCoin' won't change anything.
[Cryptocurrencies] are needed by people who live under currency controls and failing fiat systems,
authoritarian governments, corrupt institutions, and kleptocratic Mafiosi banks.
Guess what? About 90% percent of the human population lives under [or close to] those conditions.
For them, 'FaceCoin' isn't a solution. It is simply another broken, centralized currency.
Open systems are the solution; the problem is caused by centralization of control.
That problem cannot and will never be solved by 'FaceCoin.'
'FaceCoin' will deplatform users. It will censor and slow down transactions.
It will require you to document who you are paying, why you are paying them, where you got your money,
and if they don't like the answer (who paid you or who you paid), your account will be frozen.
Just like PayPal does today. Nothing changes. In fact, Facebook will probably be more aggressive.
They will apply surveillance to all of your transactions, selling that data to hundreds of various...
commercial companies and intelligence agencies, totalitarian regimes and [entities] like that.
Facebook will sell the financial [data] of dissidents to the dictators hunting them down and get people killed.
Because that is how fiat works.
"JPMorgan Coin." This question comes from Jamie. Does it really come from Jamie [Dimon], though?
Maybe that is just a pseudonym. "I am just curious about what your thoughts are on bank coins."
"Will they become more mainstream? If so, what impact will that have on other coins?"
Yes, bank coins will become mainstream. Bank coins will have more market capitalization.
Bank coins will have more users [in the short term]. Bank coins will deliver less [financial] freedom,
decentralization, neutrality, censorship resistance, less of everything that matters.
They will be competing primarily with fiat and other bank coins, not [with cryptocurrencies],
coins where the primary differentiation is freedom, decentralization, open-access, neutrality, and...
censorship resistance for the world.
This is something that bank coins cannot and will not ever offer, therefore they do not compete [with Bitcoin].
Does that mean they may be "bigger" and "richer"? Absolutely. Fiat is already bigger and richer.
But that doesn't matter. The measure of success is not market capitalization or how fast you shed principles,
or compromise to absurd regulations that impoverish people both financially and in terms of their freedom.
They will subject you to surveillance capitalism and the rapacious corruption of dictators around the world.
That is not the measure of success. The measure is, [how many people can you help to reach freedom]?
To exercise their human rights of free trade, free speech, free association, and the possibility of a better future?
[They will achieve that] through a system of money that does not discriminate, is not controlled by the few,
is not manipulated [just] to enrich the upper class.
We have [those problems] in fiat. Will the bank coins keep coming anyway? Sure, they will.
No matter what, if you start compromising your principles, you will soon discover that there are...
very big and well-funded organizations that have "compromise our principles" as their business plan,
and the ability to do it faster than anybody else.
That is a race to the bottom. We should be strengthening our principles with cryptocurrencies,
introducing better privacy, anonymity, fungibility, security, and usability.
This is already happening in the crypto space. JPM Coin can have their [market capitalization].
Enjoy? Have fun with that... I expect that "experiments" like this...
especially in the beginning, will fail miserably.
They fundamentally misunderstand the differentiation or value of cryptocurrencies and blockchains.
What they are doing is business-as-usual, disguised as innovation, when it really doesn't change [anything]...
about the power imbalance, which is what cryptocurrencies are all about.
"E-coin," yes. Evil Corp. It is really funny how JPMorgan Chase is quite [closely] following the plot of Mr. Robot,
the exact plot line of [the second season], even though we know that it ends with their offices in flames.