Bitcoin Forum

Tin foil hats on, people, I'm going in...

Big news recently has been Facebook's announcement that it will be launching its own cryptocurrency, 'GlobalCoin'. I think this has implications for the direction of travel of crypto as a whole.

Facebook, along with other major internet companies such as Google, offers its services 'for free'. Obviously 'free' is not really free, as these companies harvest all of the personal data that you provide and use increasingly sophisticated behavioural analytics programs to predict your future behaviour, and sell this on for big profit.

So the Facebook coin - they can harvest data on your personality, age, gender, politics and preferences, but the ultimate aim is to acquire everything, all data, including the most valuable one, which is what you buy and when (and under what circumstances) you buy it. This is surely the real purpose of Facebook's move into crypto. All of your purchase activity with this Facebook coin will be tracked and incorporated into the 'digital you' that Facebook sell on.

Is the rest of crypto heading the same way? I know there are privacy coins, but the overall trend is towards KYC - including on exchanges, and this will doubtless increase as mainstream adoption draws closer and governments become more hands-on in devising legislation. And then couple this with the privacy trade-offs that we are likely to concede in order to make use of the convenience of IoT and connected devices.

Are we heading inevitably into a future where crypto is used as a means for big companies to harvest your data for profit?

Data is power and anybody holding that data can easily monetized those data. This is the big lesson I learned when I supported many data-related ICO projects in 2017...sadly many of those project went kaput themselves. Data can be money in the hands of a good merchant and it can also mean power if wield rightly. This is so important to Facebook, Google and other big names in this ever-expanding online industry as what they are pushing are based on data. And of course, data buyers are all over the market especially big businesses and popular merchants (including the many small fishes or players, of course). Are we then entering the time when even cryptocurrency is being utilized harvesting data for profit? Yes, that can be possible but I am still crossing my fingers with the Facebook's GlobalCoin and see what its final infrastructure will be. Let's judge the book when it is already available in bookstore.

KYC is the reason that cryptocurrency won't have that kind of free hand it was meant for. Then government being incorporated in for legislation won't really make headway. This is one issue that crypto will have to face in the future when governments start coming into the regulation.

We should not allow that, not because facebook is making their own crypto they will be able to beat the bitcoin and other altcoins.
That always depends on us, if that is their purpose and we support it we should blame but ourselves.
In a decentralized space, we are not controlled, we have freedom here, so let's unite and use our freedom to raise the coins that would be beneficial for the majority of people.

There is nothing bad in KYC. This kind of data is absolutely worthless. You may easily buy someone else's document scans just for $1 in dark web. KYC is made to verify the user that is making financial operations and not trying to gather his data.

You can still make P2P transactions that would be annonymous but when it comes to using some 3rd party services then you should also follow their rules.
And btw this governmental regulation won't be seen for normal users.

I don't see any tinfoil hat on you, my man.  As to the above quote, I agree and currently I'm not using any exchange that requires KYC (I have used Coinbase and Circle in the past).  I'm not so much concerned about the data an exchange can collect from me, but I'd like to keep my crypto dealings a wee bit private if possible--but FB and Google?  Oh hell no.  I don't use FB and I stopped using google as a search engine, though I can't say I've stopped using all of their services.

Those two companies are like big brother from George Orwell's 1984, and both of them freak me out.  I don't know how successful FB's crypto will be, but it might spark some interest in real cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.  But we'll see.  I don't know much about what they're planning and how their coin is going to be implemented--and I'm not very interested in the details either.  Fuck Facebook, that's my general opinion about them. 

I don't know what you meant by the bolded sentence above, but I think governments are going to start regulating crypto.  They already have, in fact, in the form of those KYC requirements and so forth.  They won't be able to destroy it, but governments have more power over it than most people realize.  They have a bazooka in their pocket that they just haven't fired yet.

There's nothing wrong with regulations because I saw the majority of people who hate and is really bittered in Facebook and successful companies as a sign of being a crab mentality human being. I don't really understand the reason why you people hates Facebook and so on. We even know that Windows Operating System could get all your information quickly and easily compared to the browsers, social media OP's mentioned.

You know what? I guess the best way for you to do is to stop using the internet if you are really against it.

People like you hide a lot of things and that is the reason why you are afraid of these.

Honestly, Facebook is doing their best to help their users. And earn from the advertisements and market. However, it doesn't mean that they are selling it for a big profit. It's just that they are doing their best to help us with our daily living.

Yes, I agree 100%. It is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid them. Every company can see the huge income that FB and Google can generate on the back of the personal information that we hand over freely, and unsurprisingly they all want in. Particularly if you have a smart phone - it's not just the Android operating system, it seems like every app wants to grab your location data, access your photos, contacts etc. And if you delve into the permissions that most websites now want, it's like entering an infinite labyrinth, they sell your data on to a huge number of companies, who in turn sell it on further. It's an onslaught.

This is the thing that concerns me about the FB coin. It will absolutely be used to track purchases and potential purchases and whatever else it can track; this is how FB makes its money. It's essentially a behavioural futures market.

So given that all these companies are chasing after our personal information, and that surveillance possibilities are ever-increasing with the introduction of new tech like facial recognition becoming more widespread, this comes back to crypto again in the form of IoT devices managed by smart contracts. It's a small step from KYC on exchanges to full surveillance everywhere, and the worst thing is that there's money in it to act as an incentive.

There's some good, insightful literature on this stuff. I'd recommend 'The Age of Surveillance Capitalism' by Shoshana Zuboff. Probably best not to get it from Amazon though ;)

In one point perhaps crypto would experience and head that way, though I don't think that it will be completely going that way. Only those who wish to trade their crypto to fiat are at risk and are offering being data mined by companies, and for the rest of the community who doesn't use centralized exchanges on their dealings, I guess they are safe from such surveillance--but then again we know at some point they are going to have to exchange that crypto to some fiat.

Perhaps it's a compromise we must accept in order to see bitcoin and crypto grow and have some of that acceptance from the masses.

Unfortunately more crypto adoption means more transparency and the coins that focus on being anonymous,like monero will be restricted and penalized even further.
By the way,globalcoin is an awful name.FBcoin is way better. ;D

KYC is something that we shouldn't fear. We all know how it could help the security of a certain coin and every transaction being performed using it. The risk is, Facebook contains all our information so it will be easy for their coin to track transactions without requiring KYC. They could also track our holdings if ever we'll purchase their coins. It's hard to entrust everything in a coin which could access our private information. They would surely take control of this.

I think that Facebook will be forced to do some kind of KYC of the users of their GlobalCoin, to be sure that the currency can be legal around the world.
I'm more interested in how they will secure the users of their coin, so people who get their Facebook account hacked, don't end up losing there crypto also.

Facebook has already been caught trying to obtain customers financial data from banks and payment companies - though they have said that they declined the Facebook's offer, which might or might not be true, it still shows that you're right - Facebook is interested in obtaining financial data, because that their business model - creating target ads and selling them, and creating their own coins is one way of achieving it.

Well, that is alarming. The reason why cryptocurrency is loved by many is because of anonymity that it brings to it's user. Divulging personal information is really risky especially if financial information is involved. Well, let's all just wait what would be the real aim of facebook when they finally launch their own crypto.

Are we so sensitive enough of our privacy that we forget we’re living in a world of fraud. Is Facebook privacy and data issue is really alarming or just part of something that does happen locally within our country without our knowledge? Or we’re been dragged by some PR machines into something they’re personal intention is behind money.

I don’t agree with how Facebook used or unintentionally been used in something that is beyond we intended our data to be used. CIA is tracking us for decades. That’s an open secret, but we don’t condemn it as we do in this social media platform.

Remember:
 Facebook is a powerful tool and a government that controls it will have the advantage. The pressure is way beyond we can only imagine.

Inevitably crypto space tendency is to become even more centralized and restrict. Kyc requirement lets it very clear. Soon exchanges that don't adopt this procediment will be forbidden of operating their businesses by governments that are uniting themselves to adopt similar regulations toward crypto currency.
You can verify it by looking India government actions: they were visiting some countries like Japan and Uk to learn about their regulations and have some ideas about how India crypto regulations must be. There is an uniform movement coming from different countries to threat crypto currency users privacy.

It is up to the user how far this social media can extract info from him.
If you are not in any way favor of their business, you can always delete your account from them.
It is up to you actually, how they can track your behavior. You will be the one feeding your information.
Creating their own coin will create more crypto adoption. So I have nothing against with them.
More crypto adoption means the btc price might further increase its value.

Data is one of the most valuable things and most people just hand it over for nothing and do not care.  I'm really scared about how powerful this Facebook could become among the masses.  Zuckerberg has already shown that he is a psycho that is bent on world dominance.  I'm guessing their coin won't be mineable at all and will be completely centralized.

Im pretty sure that they already have done it but it isnt disclosed yet.We have seen on past issues with Facebook when it comes to information leak.We
dont even know if those are just simply an alibi or total shows just to deceive people.I dont see this Globalcoin do any have significant similarities with a pure crypto currency
yet this would be just a centralized coin would be used up for FB's services and so forth but surveilance and reversible transactions might be possible.

Well i don't like doing kyc for all exchanges at least not there where i not deposit money via card or bank transfer, i also not like surveillance and also the way the work try to go. I wish crypto be decentralized.

And a lot are still being fooled by this. Yes they are collecting data already. Even your photos and videos are being drawn to them. Data is power. That is correct. I remember that from the Johnny English movie (the new one). It gave me goosebumps. Hell yeah! It could happen. No more privacy and security.

It is just sad that Satoshi offered bitcoin to avoid all of this data harvesting websites and banks. Yet, Supporters up until now is really low compared to the total number of adult human beings in the world.

We must teach kids. Make them aware that our data should always be private like the stone age. ;D

You are hitting the nail on the head with that comment and this explains why regulators are still open to consider legalizing Crypto currency use in their countries. They have big plans for this technology and it includes "GovCoins" that would track every single financial transaction that you make with their Crypto currency.

Why do you think governments want to push for a cashless society? <Answer : Cash is too anonymous>  >:(

Yes, most likely, it will be so. If before we made purchases using paper money and practically remained anonymous, then this relatively anonymous cryptocurrency may well prove to be a good source of receiving our confidential information and generally any information about us. If we have a mobile phone and use cryptocurrency, the government and in general everyone who enters the relevant databases will know absolutely everything about us. For a complete set, you only need to read our thoughts. Now research in this area is coming to an end. There is no time left for total control over us.
By the way, in science fiction such societies have long been described with complete control over people where even their thoughts are read. Everything that was ever written in the genre of fiction, always came true.

Absolutely Correct! Digital economy is the inevitable future and governments will have to start preparing their plans to create a centralized digital currency as decentralization would not work for them! Facebook's Global coin is the first step towards this development. They will not be anonymous and they will compliant with various regulatory rules around the world where every single transactions will be tracked. The coin launched by Facebook will not be an exception and push towards a strictly controlled economy.

I really have no idea why people are cheering about this news! 

We have long entered the era of information technology and information is now one of the most expensive things. In recent years, governments of different countries are doing everything possible to control their citizens in different areas, and for this private companies like Facebook are often involved. Naturally, governments also seek to control cryptocurrencies and their owners by all available means. I think that with the development of cryptocurrency regulation will only tighten

That is really a good question. But until now, I still cannot understand how our personal information can help businesses. Or do they just want to collect our information to check how many people are involved in the crypto market? If someone knows their purpose, answer my question. thanks.
Facebook issues participate in the crypto market to possess personal information, I think they will not need to do so to get our nonsensical information.
They participate in the crypto market just to get more partners to expand and develop their payment services.

The purpose is behavioural analytics used to predict and influence future purchasing. It's an incredibly lucrative field. Say someone wants to sell a sports drink. Instead of wasting money by blanket targeting everyone through say a TV advert, they can get an ad to pop-up on your phone when you've just left the gym. They know there's a shop just around the corner that sells their drink, they know you're thirsty because you've been exercising, they know you have a history of buying other drinks from that shop at that particular time of day. Their model indicates that you are attending the gym more often than you used to. You're trying to engage in a healthier lifestyle. They then sell this information on again to a client company who produces juicers and smoothie-makers, and another company that sells bicycles, perhaps they'll offer you 10% off a new bike, but only for a limited time - and they'll send this offer to you at 8pm becuase they know this is when you're tired and more likely to make impulse purchases.

That's the point of it. Companies pay a lot of money for this sort of advantage.

For those that fully understand what the blockchain technology stands for, this might be the reason why most of them would not buy into the idea of Facebook coin, as it will operate more or less like a centralized coin and all people’s data and transaction will still play out into government hands, because I got an hint somewhere that it will have the partnership of government,  which will not be more than the partnership of U.S government, and that indirectly means they are gradually planning to regulate cryptocurrency, but the choice will still be for people to accept is or not since there is no way they can impose it.

Having control over people has always been the obsession of those in power, and today is more pronounced because of the accelerated population growth, and the fact that we are in the digital age where control methods have become global, we are all under under supervision 24 hours a day. FB GlobalCoin is nothing but the continuation of this global control policy (they even use name Global), and it is not any secret that Zuckerberg is knocking on lot of doors to make this happens( Bank Of England, US Treasury, Western Union).

Most of FB users (around 2.4 billion) have almost completely sold their privacy, and it will be easy to sell them idea of some new global currency. Fact that many big players even on state levels show great interest for this project undoubtedly shows us in which direction this is going.

However FB GlobalCoin probably can not count on the big market as China, India, or Russia where cryptocurrency of any type is not welcomed. Maybe some other popular social networks as VKontakte (Russia - around 500 million users) also decides to do something similar.

See cryptocurrencies are just end product. The more important concept is Blockchain Technology. Anyone can use Blockchain technology and produce the service/product according to his/her own preference. Let's take an example, so we all know how to make curd. You just have to add a small amount of curd in milk and process of fermentation will change the milk into curd overnight. Here process of fermentation is Blockchain Technology and curd is cryptocurrency. All Facebook is doing is that it is producing its own curd and selling it under the label of 'facebook'. It is entirely up to the customers whether they want to purchase curd from facebook or continue purchasing it from small milkmen. Everyone has a right to use Blockchain Technology (as it isn't under any patent till now) no matter a big company or a single individual.
On the other note, I also believe that Facebook's coin will have positive impact on our current crypto market. Bitcoin and alts aren't going anywhere, the launch of GlobalCoin will rather act as promotion and more people will become aware of them.

This is the biggest problem with all the corporate structure, they portray something as free for everyone but they make money selling out personal information and with their new crypto coins coming out i do not expect them any different, if you need privacy make sure you never use them as they cannot afford that in any shape or form and more over a centralized coin. It might generate interest to the users who never entered the market, will see how this turns out to be.

Crypto is decentralized but I think KYC is being introduced because of scam. However, I see KYC as a set in the wrong direction. It is creating surveillance on investors and icos are busy running away with people's money.

Sad but true. Then the original feature of cryptocurrency will be losing its meaning. Cryptocurrency being “free” will be then be void as more and more regulations will be imposed on it. If it happens, there will be little to no difference between fiat and cryptocurrency when freedom will be lose.

Facebook goes like this "if we aren't the buyers then we are the products" FB being free only means they are only earning in a different way and that is through ads specifically targeted for us, and you better ask yourself how they can even know what we have been searching in Google? It's because this giant companies are working together just to discover what ads are fit for us. And I have a strong feeling that this cryptocurrency is a big step for them. Obviously the users of this crypto will be asked for KYC and this will be FB's way to obtain out personal information, this might be their plan to have a more accurate way to target ads on us.

Facebook like all companies and projects is acting on self-interest, and I am confident the marketplace will sense what they are about. Obviously bitcoin will have a competitive advantage in that it will not require KYC to use it - at least on decentralized exchanges. Also, investors and speculators will be scared away from Facebook's coin since it will probably be a stablecoin. I'm inclined to believe Facebook's foray will be neutral to positive for the space by possibly bringing new people into crypto.

I wish someone would hold a sword over their necks as they smugly say "Knowledge is Power".  ;D


Agreed. I think some of them has already realized that since people are gonna buy cryptos anyway, then they made it so that you'd still have to transfer to fiat when paying anyway, even when you don't physically use the cash (for example buying stuff through gov't accredited exchanges). It's not a big jump for the fiat to be digital as well.

We already see some sort of cashless culture in China except that I think other countries would not be as hostile to crypto, since these are still money anyway, you'd just have to convert your crypto to their coins.

Facebook coin, I was some of the earlier user of Facebook, and my memories still serve me well, I can remember clearly how cumbersome the site is, and it also the first site to allow gifting virtual item other with money, although I have no idea how to get those virtual money and stuff, not until I got an idea of credit card and stuff. And look today what has turn Facebook into a monster who are hungry for information, kyc and every sensitive info. Glad I'd get rid of it.

The problem is that people share every kind of details on facebook, including when they eat, when they have a dinner, when they sleep and etc, there are some people who share such posts on facebook. Among them, there are some people who sell their identity for 5$, so you know answer. Btw facebook coin can't take place in those people who use bitcoin for it's purposes. Who wants to protect privacy, knows how to do it. For those who don't care, they'll become even more careless.

Any third party service that uses your information will most likely harvest it and analyze it. There is no way around it.

I don't think that cryptocurrencies themselves are moving in this direction at all. All that is happening is that there are more regulations around third party service providers in crypto now compared to years before, which inevitably leads to stricter KYC or whatnot.

There should be a clear distinction made between what is the currency, and what is the service.

Yes, it can be burdensome for those who oppose KYC because the initial concept of crypto is to remain anonymous, there are good and bad things after Facebook appears to make global coins that will indeed be centralized and may be the first step for any project that will follow their footsteps such as KYC and plus Facebook has a bad reputation after cases that leak personal data to their interests, it is very unfair to measure the money and risk that everyone will get, somehow the public's response, especially the user's crypto about this after they launch it.

It can't be denied as a fact that companies like Facebook and a few more have announced about their own cryptocurrencies to *offer their customers with an ease to pay/ send/ receive it as a gift or in the form of a monetary help/ payment. This will centralize the current process as a whole where - if users tend to move to those cryptocurrencies and happily provide more and more data to them thinking that they are going to do any good to them, is definitely going to harm not only them but the whole crypto environment as cryptography and its subject was introduced to serve the purpose of privacy. Though, it is our, a user's responsibility if we want to use these social medias and their cryptocoins or stick to the Dad - Bitcoin.

*Including but not limited to responsibility, it is also about the choice if users tend to use these crypto. I doubt Facebook will also add PoW to their crypto to let their users earn more crypto by socializing more which gives Facebook more opportunities as the more their users engage, the more data this company will have to sell it in the markets for millions of dollars due to having a XXXL sized user base.

When viewed from the reality as you explained, it is actually a setback. we already know the decentralization system, but to my surprise, many parties like to modify it, for personal gain

I am not entirely sure if cryptocurrency specially when centralized like the global coin facebook is building is healthy for the crypto world in innovation sense. However calling it a trouble that not only our information will be out there but also our monatery spending will be turning into data facebook could sell is a realistic questioning. Facebook never forced you to give them your data, neither whatsapp nor instagram.

You post stuff on facebook yourself, you like groups and what not on facebook yourself, whatsapp barely has any information about you unless you share some stories there, and instagram is just a place you post pictures yourself and follow people you like yourself. Which means all this time YOU gave facebook information about you, YOU can select to spend that globalcoin or not.

in my opinion this kind of thing has even become a natural thing, why should you dispute KYC, Facebook and Crypto if you can't refuse using Google yourself. Google itself is the simplest example, they have your data and location. exactly all the data that is in the device you are using. Our choice now, in my opinion, is to use only what we have been able to use

If Facebook coin will be going on, where it will be launching its own cryptocurrency which is " Global Coin " it means this coins definitely would become centralized coins, due to Facebook was belong to regulated business industry, isn't right? correct me if I I'm wrong with this understanding. And for me this is not good, it is still good to be remain on decentralized system where no one is controlling our own personal account We hold.

Everything is all about profit, people knew in the crypto world that this is going to happen, governments want this to happen, because they do not want to lose control of their people and their data, I still doubt if this so-called Globalcoin can be anonymous knowing that there will be interference since Facebook is a big company that is very much compliant.

Not only these dangers, there are many other potential dangers i don't want to mention. Ofcourse you'll need to identify these dangers and prepare for the future when they come.

People complain about KYC (and with reason), but you check BISQ and it have only two dozens of users selling and buying crypto.

There are ways to have decentralized exchanges, but the cattle dont want to get out of the pasture.

This do really proves out that people do still much prefer for them to be handled rather than doing completely anonymous.I don't know why BISQ
didn't still get sufficient users since we know that this place is truly decentralized.People do always murmured about being anonymous but they
don't consider this exchange.

On topic,all of these coins made by big companies aren't really different on fiat yet tracking of transactions and centralization is still present.

People love not caring about stuff so they pass on the responsibility. And it's becoming even more prevalent.

Whenever I hear of those Facebook Coin news, first thing that comes to my mind are old arcades where you exchange your coins for their "coins". That's what they all really are.

When I read about facebook coins, first thing that comes to my mind are soyboys bowing down to soviet bureaucrats.

Wonder what would the world prefer

A centralized coin that cost you really nothing to transfer or decentralized crypto with 20c/tx
A centralized coin where you can ask for a chargeback or a decentralized coin where you send they are gone!!
A centralized coin that is accepted everywhere or a decentralized coin that has 1% of the shops online.
A centralized coin that has some support department out there or a decentralized coin where you don't get help from sig spammers.

The average person, what is he going to choose?
The average Joe is not concerned that facebook knows he has bought cat food 2 hours ago, he is not concerned that facebook knows he has only used a toothbrush in the last 7 years, he is concerned about how much a product cost and how safe he can be without putting too much effort in it.


Yeah, they are going to waste millions in energy to mine a coin they can print with a push of a button just to acquire data they can simply request from you.

Old arcade the one that we go every sunday after the church mass ?  Where we play arcade games ?  Lol yeah your right because we pay them using our fiats in exchange for their token but that is also what crypto market look like . We buy crypto coins using fiats or we can trade our existing crypto coin to another crypto coin  . The same thing might happen to facebook coin , so there is nothing new about that   

The ones with claw machines and pinballs, LOL.

What I'm thinking is the FBcoin would be as limited as an arcade token and can only be used within the FB platform (FB, Instagram etc) and that would be the same with other social media platforms (I can totally imagine Alphabet/Google following this).

I wouldn't mind them storing mostly trivial data like how much milk I buy, what I'm worried is them stealing money. These tech giants are gatekeepers, if they find your opinions unacceptable, they can simply close your account and put your money "on hold" (a euphemism for them still using it anyway). Chase, a bank has done it with "alt-righters", what would stop these unregulated social media companies?

Well I think that the OP approach can be very radical and it has a big point, it is not necessary to obviate why these reasons can be done due to the KYC. On the other hand Zuckenberg has shown on occasion that defends the identity of its users.
 But you have to check what are the terms to acquire and have new records for currencies like GlobalCoin. They may state that the identity must be disclosed to the SEC records and that this is one of the conditions for acquiring the coins.

For the launch of the coins, they have to comply with everything that is established in the whitepaper, if all this is fulfilled if it is possible to carry out the expected conditions. We will have to wait for the rules and rules to be given, to speculate more safely.

Surveillance is not part of the capitalistic world, its not done for profit but it is done for controlling people. For example when facebook sold a ton of data to foreign people so they could use it to meddle with american elections and make sure the trump supporters all went up and voted whereas they worked to keep the democrats at home because they created this idea that hillary didn't supported their beliefs and she will win anyway so the best course of action is not voting for her.

This was all due to power grab and they did it to make sure the country was run by the person they want in the office, that is not capitalism that is literally power grab. Facebook played a role there but they literally just sold data like they always to for marketing purposes, for example they sell data of people who searched "samsung galaxy" or whatever to apple so apple could instead show their ads and change their minds you know. That type of marketing purposed data was always sold, facebook just didn't know this time it was used for something evil.

I don't think that they use our KYC to do bad things. they will need it to develop a technology in the future and they need information from many people across the country. or they can make their advertising more effective.
Don't worry too much, I've witnessed a lot of people selling their information and haven't had any bad results so far.

Unfortunately, this has always been a problem with the society and with the rise of democracy it's even more visible. The average joe is an idiot but he's asked for his expert opinion on politics, finances, medicine and other aspects of the modern world. How? Indirectly through voting.
Even when he's not literally in the booth he's voting in the Internet, choosing products and services, voting in the store for what has the most appealing package.
If FB coin really launches it will be a success, just as the overpriced Iphones are, even though there are better and cheaper phones on the market.

With big companies making something new or introducing a new concept to the market and coming up with new idea, the first question that you always ask is why, of course none other than profit, and with facebook creating this new coin for people to use them on their platforms, Instagram, Facebook and whatsup you immediately know there is a catch to it, since they are well known for exploiting their systems and taking people's data and selling them to advertisers, they even went to court for that, and with centralized "GlobalCoin" i am pretty sure it is no different, and to be honest who are they targeting with these coins, i personally don't think that there is anyone who spends money on these social media platforms.

Facebook always makes progress steps, I believe if they and the team want to make significant development. I hope it will be realized soon. I'm sure they will make crypto progress.

Thanks everyone, a good discussion and some interesting opinions!

I think it's inevitable that Facebook, Google et al will continue to extract our data for behavioural analytics, and that Facebook coin is a step on this path towards the end state of being able to predict (and influence) all of our decisions. It may in future become almost impossible to avoid this stuff, particularly with Android phones, but being aware of the issue does at least give us a tiny bit of control.

It's quite funny how some people are feeling happy over Facebook releasing their own cryptocurrency, I think that's stupidity, cause I see nothing to be happy about. Most of you here always talk about anonymity which is your main purpose of making use of cryptocurrency, so why do you go about supporting currencies that wouldn't give you that? Facebook for sure will never do things that is never going to benefit them, they are all about collecting users info and selling it to advertisers and stuffs like that, so you shouldn't be so happy about it. Even their cryptocurrency wouldn't be something as bitcoin, and you're even the one investing and they will also use your money for business.

If you are not the customer, you are the product. Period.

A company needs to make revenues to survive and if they are not charging you anything for the usage of the platform, it inevitably means that your data will be sold or at least used for their own profit. And 99% of people either don't realize this, don't know what consequences this can have or simply don't care as all they want are "freebies" and being able to share the latest cat video with their 2000 "friends".

However, the monetization of our data is not the worst part. Selective censorship (for political/ideological reasons) and sharing of your activities with the authorities is a way larger threat, and there have already been cases of people prosecuted for inappropriate comments or even for liking someone else's comments.

Honestly facebook is already getting all the data that is required to know what we would buy and all, since we do click on ads that sells something so they know what we liked and clicked and maybe even if cookies allow what we buy too, so all in all they have some sort of idea of what we like or do not like thanks to their ads. Why do you think they show adds that are more inclined for our interests and not stuff we never think about before, why does it never show me any soccer or jersey type of commercial but shows me pc game ads? Well they do have those datas already.

Globalcoin can't be because of that, what we spend on it will give them a better understanding of course but not really worth that much time and money to get it a bit clearer when they already have a slightly worse version of the same data. I think this must be for some other reason.

I understand, but I disagree. These companies are insatiable, and Facebook and Google lead the way. The ultimate aim is to gather all data from the real world and develop perfect prediction and, beyond that, powerful means of influencing us. It's a phenomenally lucrative industry. I believe they will exploit any opportunity available to gather more and more data on us. Whether its purchasing and browsing data, whether its biometric data from wearable tech, whether its pinpoint location data from your phone... the list is almost endless, and they will stop at nothing. More data leads to better predictions which leads to increased revenue.

That has always been there aim all this while, to be able to have access to know every of our activities. I will invest in the Facebook coin but that doesn't mean I'm going to make use of it. I'm only going to invest in it and wait for the price to increase and once the price has increased enough and I've made enough money, I will just withdraw everything back and then use my money the way I want. I don't like giving Facebook every information about myself, there are things that are meant to be kept a secret. So using Facebook coin is not an option for me. If you have a Facebook account they are going to quickly link the account to your cryptocurrency wallet and be able to trace everything and grab every single move you make online using their crypto coin.

Before bitcoin we actually didnt have a choice, we were forced to use what they throw at us. Now we have a choice, who forces you to use facebook, now we have some nice crypto social networks, my favorite is steemit. Who forces you to do kyc, you can always find some good exchange, decentralized where you can trade without kyc, casinos without kyc.
We have many privacy coins now, most of them are undervalued at the moment. Most people dont know nothing about them, but their time is coming.

I have deleted FaceBook from my phone, I use it only on webbrowser. I am considering deleting myself completely.
The data collection is off the charts, regularly new information arises that they are breaking all of the privacy rules of normal persons.

Fb coin could be a good boost to crypto market but i certainly will not use it.

I also felt sad. Facebook needs to stay the hell away from crypto. Noone wants them there. They like to ruin things and get everyones personal info. Twitter too, needs a phone number and they suspend accounts often.

Most of these ICO should not be asking for KYC anyway. I don't even know why they do. They are not capable of protecting our info either. They have proven it over and over, just look at all the exchange hacks.

Facebook Libra remind me Big Data begin
But we have to notice is not cryptocurrency. Libra is centralized coin or rather will be.Libra will be owned and issued by institution institution what had big problem with respecting privacy policy
Exchanges KYC if crypto is consider like a money then there is KYC if crypto is traded to fiat then there is KYC

It's a consequence of the success of crypto. When it was a tiny niche area, no country was bothered about it, and so there was no legislation. But now that the market cap is measured in $billions, governments are sitting up and taking notice, and starting to either implement legislation or else make threatening noises about it. This is all part of the road to mass adoption. Many new coins ask for KYC to cover themselves and make best efforts to ensure they are legally compliant.

As for Facebook though, they have a history of just moving ahead of governments into unlegislated space and then establishing their activities there as the new normal. In the past they haven't cared about laws. It will be interesting to see whether governments react now that FB is moving into finance via crypto.

I don't even mind us getting watched by facebook for actually good reasons at all, I mean for example if I am a person that likes
basketball and NBA and when I go to facebook or instagram and check out those type of things and after that I get an advertisement about some NBA jerseys or stuff related to basketball that is just good business, I would totally understand that and I would accept it. They can get my information about what type of person I am and then give me advertisements according to that.

However, they are just giving away political information now as well and they are giving away personal information along with just "likes and dislikes" type of stuff, like even your pictures as well. That is why I think there should be a limit, yeah they should have some info because that is how they make money but they should not have excess amount of info.

Libra won't get any big attention if it won't offer people something extraordinary - majority of the population is happy with banks and payment services like PayPal, why would they even want to try Libra? Credit card companies and banks compete with each other by offering cashback, miles and other beneficial terms, if Libra won't do something like that, it won't get attention of millions. In that case all it can hope for is short-term interest from crypto fans, but since it's a stablecoin, there's no room for speculation.

There is no need for privacy coins, there is no need for surveillance capitalism, there needs to be a middle ground and we have it ; bitcoin. Right now stuff like monero or xspectrecoin and so forth are good at what they are doing but do we really need that much security? Are we sure that its just enough and should be that much? I feel like I would work way too much for security and privacy too much, I think bitcoin is just enough for me.

Obviously, Libra is way too much centralized and its risky to use it because they will be following every single money you spent and just like they use your information to sell ads they will use your spending behavior to also sell it for ads and that is not acceptable neither. So thats why people use bitcoin and say both libra and monero are both too sides radical.

libra isnt releasead yet but why they are already gaining massive attention ? some says that libra coins announcement did have an impact on the btc price and btc price went up  . facebook is a good platform with lots of features compare to other social media sites so their coin wont also be ordinary  .


ask your self first on why there is a masive demand on cryptocurencies especially bitcoin if there are banks and paypals  .

The name of the coin is Libra coin and not global coin. What you said is true, they are going to use it as means of harvesting more data from their users and then sell it to advertisers. Another thing is that the coin is going to be a stable coin, pegged 1:1 with the USD, it’s not going to be like Bitcoin that is always fluctuating heavily up and down. So anyone who is going to be making use of it should just have it mind that it is just another payment method and not for investment. If you’re looking for investment, then that Libra is not meant for you. Though one thing about it is that lots of companies are going to be accepting it.

The direction cryptocurrency will adopt we'll be decided by the majority of its users. It’s understandable to feel apprehension regarding Libra's characteristics as general representation of the crypto future, and even more so as it is such a centralized, regulated and closed system that can’t be called blockchain anymore. But that’s just it, it doesn’t represent crypto and its trends any more than PayPal or any other current digital remittance service. Now, whether its going to be massively adopted or not its an uncertainty at this point, but what’s tangible now is that the diversity of the cryptocurrency environment allows the freedom to choose where we’ll operate.

In regards to this supposedly globalized and unified currency that Facebook wants to impose, there are visions and projects emerging that are truer to the blockchain principles without sacrificing the same scope and reach.

It is now called Libra and yes, I believe that collecting ALL possible info is what Facebook is after. Just to put it in perspective, Target can correctly predict that a woman is pregnant simply coz of their purchase history https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/#1c0692b26668

Now imagine Facebook getting a hold of this (you're using Libra to purchase stuff online) as well as all the other info you are providing in your profile through your activity. Heck even Youtube surprise me with recommendations appearing just as I'm thinking of something - and many people are saying the same thing happening to them. And Google only have our search history from Chrome and watched history from Youtube.

"Curator of digital identities" is the endgame.


I just hope this wouldn't put people at risk simply coz people in their social circle are using it.

Big companies are doing that since mid 80`s? And since internet is invented we voluntarily give our privacy, they have an easy job in harvesting our personal informations. Internet privacy is a big issue, and while some people know how to stay safe and protected, majority is very naive.
What can crypto do about it? Crypto can be used for many things, it`s a fact. If someone want`s to use crypto for data harvesting it`s definitely possible, but in the same way there are crypto projects that offer privacy and anonymity. Internet and crypto, together, offer many possibilities, for people who are smart enough to use them, whether to stay hidden or you want to be exposed, people do both things willingly.

I am fan of socializing and looking at other's shared photos and posts online though it is true that I don't like sharing stuffs especially personal stuffs.

The thing here is that I use cryptocurrencies because of the fact that I can pay my bills without getting out of my house or seeing those people at the front desk, dealing with some of those people are so annoying. Another thing is that if someone is accepting my payment as Bitcoin, that would be so efficient making more time to do other things.

Earlier, the fesbuk as a social network was quite excellent resources, but recently I have been very disappointed with the actions of the administration.  There are a lot of conditions and rules that change constantly, and at the same time I don’t like that they practically possess a large amount of personal data of users to which third parties have access.  The same situation will be with the new project, so I do not expect anything good.

You gave those information they had access too because there is no way that they can forcefully have access to information that was not willingly given, which means that you consented to it, if we did not want them to have access to those information, then we should not have given it.

What exactly is the information we have been claiming Facebook have access to? Is it the email that is used to register which anyone can easily guess, is it the picture that you can decide to put even a picture that is not yours, or is it the name that anyone can share with you, or is it birthday that you can lie on? So what exactly is the vital information we have been killing Facebook on, I really do not know? Everyone does kyc, I don’t have issue with Facebook coin on this, except the fact that the technology of the Libra does not fit into crypto that much.