It is nearly impossible these days not to check the crypto-markets obsessively, willing the coin of your choosing to go green, double-digit green. We hope and pray things are going to go our way. Earlier, I came across a title saying fiat money will disappear in ten years, the kind of opinion we want to see. If cryptos will rule the world, we’ll be just fine…
And yet, I find the perspective scary. We’re pushing for a future of which we have no idea, a future which might come back to bite us in the ass… if not us, at least the next generation… our children. On some level, I am aware change is scary and our history is full of examples when people shook their heads and said the steam engine will ruin the world and who needs automobiles anyway… what’s wrong with horses?
So, it might be the case I don’t understand progress and my worries are completely unfounded…
Whether we like it or not, at present, many of our expectations are tied to the Libra project. Many analysts saw a connection between the recent bull market and the announcement of the Libra project. Also, the current downtrend was linked to the Congress hearing of a Facebook exec. Mainstream media is full of negative opinions on Libra, officials around the world present this project as ‘extremely dangerous’ - even though Libra does not aim to be a true decentralized currency.
The opposition is, of course, not unexpected and if you look at the very big names behind this project you realize it’s not a bunch of amateurs with a crazy plan. The project has every chance to succeed, not without bringing along a lot of strict regulations the rest of the cryptosphere might not like… We hope that, if a project like Libra gets accepted, cryptos will go mainstream and we will all benefit from that, which might or might not be the case…
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In my view, Libra becoming a thing is a nightmare scenario, as inevitably your finances will be directly tied to your social media activity. This goes beyond Zuckerberg knowing exactly what you do with your money and following your every move. (Google already knows I went to the store earlier and the card company knows how much I spent…)
What if, in the not very distant future, they’ll come up with a system to limit your financial transaction based on your social media activity? They already do this in China and it’s got nothing to do with them being communists… It’s just about control.
For instance, this morning I read an article on what to do if your phone number is blocked on WhatsApp. I had no idea they could do that, but from what I read the same rules as on FB apply - you can get banned for being racist or even confrontational… whatever…
I don’t think I’m particularly paranoid to imagine a future when along with a posting ban, they could slap you with financial restrictions… If you’ve been found guilty of violating community rules, you might not be allowed to make certain purchases for the duration of your punishment… People in China have been left unable to buy travel tickets on account of their poor social credit system. I highly recommend this article about the situation in China, where I found the following quote:
“…citizens are now pressured to spend more and more time on the “hottest app” in China—“Study the Great Nation”—a bible of sorts highlighting the teachings and goings-on of president Xi Jinping. Individual participation rates are recorded, and those who don’t spend enough time on the mobile app everyday are punished by employers and chastised by school teachers.”
Sure, for people in the Western world there might be other ideas they could be forced to study and embrace, but the punishment would be the same. Your social score goes down, your financial transactions are restricted. This could not happen when you have cash in your pocket, but the moment your money are tied to a crypto-wallet, you follow the rules or else...
