Forwarded from BlackBox (Security) Archiv
No new Bitcoin: Don't touch Facebooks Libra!
Facebook wants to become the central bank with Libra and profit from the Bitcoin hype. But the blockchain is primarily a facade, Libra is neither decentralized nor a crypto currency.
If Facebook is the answer, Libra will develop into a world currency. But the Facebook coin has little in common with Bitcoin and other crypto currencies. Libra is a digital currency that resembles Wechat Pay rather than Bitcoin. The question of whether Libra is a crypto currency is directly related to considerations of privacy and user trust.
Crypto currencies vs. central banks
With the blockchain as a technology and especially with crypto currencies, a lot revolves around trust. In principle, this is very similar to conventional currencies such as the euro, which also work solely because we trust, for example, that the state and the central bank will not devalue them. In the case of fiat currencies, i.e. uncovered money, recent history - actually only from the 20th century onwards - has shown that this trust in the state is not always justified. Replacing this blind trust in a central authority that controls the monetary system has been one of the core promises of crypto currencies from the outset and can be found in Bitcoin's first announcement, written by Satoshi Nakamoto.
Facebook also wants to give the impression that its digital currency is decentralized, so that users do not have to rely on a central authority. Libra is to be controlled by the Libra Association based in Switzerland, which includes many other companies such as Paypal, Visa, Uber and Mastercard. The mere fact that many well-known companies are on board - and have each paid at least ten million US dollars for it - combined with the ambitious goal of creating a global financial network, is causing a lot of hype. If you then stick the label "Blockchain" on such an ambitious project, you can be sure that everyone is talking about it.
Decentralised, my ass: Libra Association acts as central bank
"[The new blockchain for the global currency] is a decentralized, programmable database designed to support a low-volatility crypto currency that acts as a medium of exchange for billions of people," the Libra white paper says. Admittedly, there are many superficial technical reminiscences of Ethereum or Bitcoin in Libra: Smart Contracts, Dapps, Move, a programming language of its own, and all that even faster and better. The Libra blockchain is to be used by around 2.7 billion people who have a Facebook profile and can process up to 1,000 transactions per second. Bitcoin processes around seven transactions per second.
Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, the Libra Blockchain is not a public blockchain, but a Consortium Blockchain in which only paying members of the Libra Association are involved in mining. According to Facebook, this is necessary in order to avoid problems such as high energy consumption, slow transactions and other difficulties that plague Bitcoin, for example. For this reason alone, the Libra Association acts as a sort of central bank. According to Facebook, this will change after five years and the Libra blockchain will open, but one can be sceptical about this.
https://t3n.de/news/libra-ist-keine-kryptowaehrung-kein-bitcoin-1172551/
#DeleteFacebook #libra #CryptoCurrency #decentralized #paypal #visa #uber #mastercard #why
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_DE
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_EN
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_ES
Facebook wants to become the central bank with Libra and profit from the Bitcoin hype. But the blockchain is primarily a facade, Libra is neither decentralized nor a crypto currency.
If Facebook is the answer, Libra will develop into a world currency. But the Facebook coin has little in common with Bitcoin and other crypto currencies. Libra is a digital currency that resembles Wechat Pay rather than Bitcoin. The question of whether Libra is a crypto currency is directly related to considerations of privacy and user trust.
Crypto currencies vs. central banks
With the blockchain as a technology and especially with crypto currencies, a lot revolves around trust. In principle, this is very similar to conventional currencies such as the euro, which also work solely because we trust, for example, that the state and the central bank will not devalue them. In the case of fiat currencies, i.e. uncovered money, recent history - actually only from the 20th century onwards - has shown that this trust in the state is not always justified. Replacing this blind trust in a central authority that controls the monetary system has been one of the core promises of crypto currencies from the outset and can be found in Bitcoin's first announcement, written by Satoshi Nakamoto.
Facebook also wants to give the impression that its digital currency is decentralized, so that users do not have to rely on a central authority. Libra is to be controlled by the Libra Association based in Switzerland, which includes many other companies such as Paypal, Visa, Uber and Mastercard. The mere fact that many well-known companies are on board - and have each paid at least ten million US dollars for it - combined with the ambitious goal of creating a global financial network, is causing a lot of hype. If you then stick the label "Blockchain" on such an ambitious project, you can be sure that everyone is talking about it.
Decentralised, my ass: Libra Association acts as central bank
"[The new blockchain for the global currency] is a decentralized, programmable database designed to support a low-volatility crypto currency that acts as a medium of exchange for billions of people," the Libra white paper says. Admittedly, there are many superficial technical reminiscences of Ethereum or Bitcoin in Libra: Smart Contracts, Dapps, Move, a programming language of its own, and all that even faster and better. The Libra blockchain is to be used by around 2.7 billion people who have a Facebook profile and can process up to 1,000 transactions per second. Bitcoin processes around seven transactions per second.
Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, the Libra Blockchain is not a public blockchain, but a Consortium Blockchain in which only paying members of the Libra Association are involved in mining. According to Facebook, this is necessary in order to avoid problems such as high energy consumption, slow transactions and other difficulties that plague Bitcoin, for example. For this reason alone, the Libra Association acts as a sort of central bank. According to Facebook, this will change after five years and the Libra blockchain will open, but one can be sceptical about this.
https://t3n.de/news/libra-ist-keine-kryptowaehrung-kein-bitcoin-1172551/
#DeleteFacebook #libra #CryptoCurrency #decentralized #paypal #visa #uber #mastercard #why
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_DE
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_EN
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New US visa requirements threaten privacy and freedom of expression
The State Department recently announced a new policy requiring visa applicants to provide social media details on their petitions to obtain a U.S. visa.
https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/449443-new-us-visa-requirements-threaten-privacy-and-freedom-of-expression
#why #usa #travel #visa
The State Department recently announced a new policy requiring visa applicants to provide social media details on their petitions to obtain a U.S. visa.
https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/449443-new-us-visa-requirements-threaten-privacy-and-freedom-of-expression
#why #usa #travel #visa
TheHill
New US visa requirements threaten privacy and freedom of expression
Mandating social media usernames on US visa applications undermines internet freedom at home and abroad.
Forwarded from BlackBox (Security) Archiv
Breaking: Visa, Mastercard, eBay, Stripe All Leave Libra
Wow. Within the span of an hour or two, reports have revealed that Facebook’s crypto project, Libra, suffered some heavy blows.
It first started on Friday morning, with the Financial Times revealing that both eBay, the e-commerce/online marketplace giant, and Stripe, a fintech giant, have dropped out of the Libra Association.
Speaking to the outlet, an eBay spokesperson asserted that while the company “respects the vision of Libra”, the American firm will not be moving ahead with its participation in the Association, citing a focus on ” rolling out eBay’s managed payments experience for our customers.”
Stripe made a similar comment, telling the FT that it is “supportive of projects that aim to make online commerce more accessible for people”, but will not be moving forward with the Facebook-backed crypto project at this time.
Within the hour or two after the FT’s revelatory report, both Mastercard and Visa — seen by many in the crypto community to be the Association’s two most important partners — also revealed that they will be rescending their membership. In their own comment, Visa cited Libra’s inability to “fully satisfy all requisite regulatory expectations.”
FIVE household names have pulled out of $LIBRA (Visa, Paypal, Stripe, Ebay, and Mastercard). I doubt they'll be the last.
Regulators are stonewalling it.
Zuck is testifying before Congress Oct. 23rd.
Now you can long/short its chance of even launching: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-07/facebook-skeptics-now-have-derivatives-to-bet-on-libra-delays
— The Crypto Dog📈 (@TheCryptoDog) October 11, 2019
👉🏼 Read more:
https://www.newsbtc.com/2019/10/11/breaking-visa-mastercard-ebay-stripe-all-leave-libra/
#DeleteFacebook #DeleteLibra #Visa #Mastercard #eBay #Stripe
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_DE
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_EN
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_ES
Wow. Within the span of an hour or two, reports have revealed that Facebook’s crypto project, Libra, suffered some heavy blows.
It first started on Friday morning, with the Financial Times revealing that both eBay, the e-commerce/online marketplace giant, and Stripe, a fintech giant, have dropped out of the Libra Association.
Speaking to the outlet, an eBay spokesperson asserted that while the company “respects the vision of Libra”, the American firm will not be moving ahead with its participation in the Association, citing a focus on ” rolling out eBay’s managed payments experience for our customers.”
Stripe made a similar comment, telling the FT that it is “supportive of projects that aim to make online commerce more accessible for people”, but will not be moving forward with the Facebook-backed crypto project at this time.
Within the hour or two after the FT’s revelatory report, both Mastercard and Visa — seen by many in the crypto community to be the Association’s two most important partners — also revealed that they will be rescending their membership. In their own comment, Visa cited Libra’s inability to “fully satisfy all requisite regulatory expectations.”
FIVE household names have pulled out of $LIBRA (Visa, Paypal, Stripe, Ebay, and Mastercard). I doubt they'll be the last.
Regulators are stonewalling it.
Zuck is testifying before Congress Oct. 23rd.
Now you can long/short its chance of even launching: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-07/facebook-skeptics-now-have-derivatives-to-bet-on-libra-delays
— The Crypto Dog📈 (@TheCryptoDog) October 11, 2019
👉🏼 Read more:
https://www.newsbtc.com/2019/10/11/breaking-visa-mastercard-ebay-stripe-all-leave-libra/
#DeleteFacebook #DeleteLibra #Visa #Mastercard #eBay #Stripe
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_DE
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The War on Cash Intensifies: Visa Offers Restaurants $10,000 to Go Cashless
Your favorite restaurant could be going cash free, and getting $10,000 from Visa to do it. It's all part of Visa's "war on cash."
Visa has declared war on cash and its "opening salvo" is to start paying restaurants $10,000 to go completely cash free.
The credit card giant is this week announcing a new plan to hand out thousands of dollars to up to 50 small food and restaurant vendors if they agree to stop taking cash.
Visa will also upgrade the restaurants' checkout terminals so they can accept contactless payments, like Apple Pay, and invest in some of the stores' marketing costs. When you pay at one of the stores you would only be able to do so with a credit or debit card, or via mobile payment. The program participants will be picked from an online application that starts in August.
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/war-cash-intensifies-visa-offers-restaurants-10-000-go-cashless-n782276
#cashless #visa
Your favorite restaurant could be going cash free, and getting $10,000 from Visa to do it. It's all part of Visa's "war on cash."
Visa has declared war on cash and its "opening salvo" is to start paying restaurants $10,000 to go completely cash free.
The credit card giant is this week announcing a new plan to hand out thousands of dollars to up to 50 small food and restaurant vendors if they agree to stop taking cash.
Visa will also upgrade the restaurants' checkout terminals so they can accept contactless payments, like Apple Pay, and invest in some of the stores' marketing costs. When you pay at one of the stores you would only be able to do so with a credit or debit card, or via mobile payment. The program participants will be picked from an online application that starts in August.
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/war-cash-intensifies-visa-offers-restaurants-10-000-go-cashless-n782276
#cashless #visa
NBC News
Visa offers restaurants $10,000 to go cashless in 'war on cash'
Your favorite restaurant could be going cash free, and getting $10,000 from Visa to do it. It's all part of Visa's "war on cash."