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Comment by village-idiot | Hacker News Reader

So, Facebook is making a stable coin. I’m normally pretty bearish on anything involving blockchains, I think they’re pointless, but that’s not my issue here. The idea of giving facebook any control over a monetary system, even just as the developer of a decentralized one, gives me the shivers.

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Given Facebook owns a large part of the social media market through Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp I suspect people will start using the coin without much thought. It’s already going to be baked in across their services and for most people that is now their social lives

I know, and that makes me very uncomfortable.

One of the proverbs I have seen come to fruition in my life time and time again is that convenience is the ultimate factor for the majority of consumers. Even competing products that are better at X or at a lower price lose out if the convenience of switching is bad.

> for most people that is now their social lives

Until recently I always though that FB is most people's social media lives but the way you phrased it made me pause and realize that FB, for more and more people, is becoming the full extent of their social lives. It's the drug that makes one feel as if they are socializing when in fact they are lonely—either physically alone or in a group where they are mentally alone, unable to relate their full self to others in person.

You can always choose not to use it, I know I certainly won't be. If we assume that Facebook's current user base (elderly relatives sharing fake news memes) aren't going to be interested either then who's left?

^^^^^ And to pile on to this sentiment a currency will only hold value if someone is willing to accept it. Launching a stable coin is so they can get around KYC and money-exchange regulations. Given their enabling of terrorism and propaganda in the past I assume we'll be soon reading about this system and all the malfeasance associated with it. facebook has never displayed a mature sense of responsibility or duty to the societies they impact.

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