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Comment by CodiePetersen | Hacker News Reader

I'm actually glad it's dead/dying. It was always going to be controlled by an elite group who answered to no one but themselves. They had the ability to monitor all of your transactions and if they didn't like you they could roll back or block your transactions.

People keep saying oh this is proof crypto can't ever work because government. This was never a true crypto currency. It was just a private ledger tracking where actual money went. It was a stable coin at best. Its centralization is what got it killed.

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>They had the ability to monitor all of your transactions and if they didn't like you they could roll back or block your transactions.

Unlike, what, my established credit card company which still blocks me randomly when I'm traveling overseas even when I explicitly call their 800 hotline, sit on hold for 30 minutes, and tell some unempathetic worker "I'm overseas, don't block me"? Yes, thank goodness libra is dying, otherwise there might actually be some innovation against the exact things you just mentioned which perfectly describe the current state of affairs.

(Edit) I think it's fair to not trust Facebook with your currency, but keep in mind the players in the current system (governments, Banks, and credit companies) have hardly proven more trustworthy.

>Unlike, what, my established credit card company which still blocks me randomly when I'm traveling overseas even when I explicitly call their 800 hotline, sit on hold for 30 minutes, and tell some unempathetic worker "I'm overseas, don't block me"? Yes, thank goodness libra is dying, otherwise there might actually be some innovation against the exact things you just mentioned which perfectly describe the current state of affairs.

You should just get a new credit card or bank, whatever you're using is really out of date. Most modern cards and banks have websites or phone apps you can submit a travel notice on. Takes all of 2m and prevents you getting blocked for charges in that country.

Or, get an American Express card. I got one four years ago and then went to Singapore for a consulting gig. I called them to let them know where I would be and was told to please not bother, that they expect their customers to travel.

I was also really please last month to notice that Capital One didn’t charge international transaction fees when I was in Canada.

Wait, are you proposing that we go from "call their 800 hotline, sit on hold for 30 minutes," to "your account has been permanently disabled for violating Facebook’s Terms. We will not reactivate it for any reason. This will be our last email regarding your account."[0] ?

This does not make sense. Looks like even your credit card is vastly more trustworthy than Facebook!

[0] http://www.optimizationtoday.com/what-i-learned-when-faceboo...

I can instantly toggle or schedule my card availability per global region (and on/offline) through an app, with login protected by hw or app-based 2fa.

Your problems are already solved, in Europe at least. Thanks to banks and governments, ironically!

And of course the trustworthiness of Facebook.

I think the others wanted to know what's going on with this project but in the end no sane person want's Facebook to have control over currency ("to move fast and break things") or even access to transaction data (it's proven FB can't be trusted with sensible data by now).

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