- Buying drugs, or other illicit substances/services, (pseudo)anonymously.
I think that counts as oppressive government.
I assume this is to be marketed to Joe Schmo. Joe Schmo is going to look at a 1099 from facebook for everyday transacting as quite burdensome. He could possibly understand if it was marketed as an investment instrument.
There are many billions of dollars in crypto currencies. What percentage of that is being held by nuts and what percentage is held by those in economic backwaters?
Mr Schmo already receives 1099s for the minuscule amount of intrest earned on his mortgage escrow, for his state tax refund, for the intrest generated from his checking account, for that $50 rebate he got from Craftsman when he bought his leaf blower. I think one more won’t kill him.
According to this, China accounts for 20% of Bitcoin trading. My guess is that the percentage held by nutty investors is about 50% and the other 30% are in other countries like Venezuela, Turkey, and Iran.
And criminals
Anti-trust laws are a thing, but it seems unlikely that Facebook falls afoul of how they are generally interpreted. I don’t see that adding a cryptocurrency would meaningfully affect that. They certainly don’t have anything approaching a dominant market position on cryptocurrencies.
Presumably future users of this thing will find some value to it, just as they find value in Facebook’s current offerings. If they don’t, then we probably don’t have to worry about it.
I generally agree with you that Facebook is a bad actor, but I also tend to believe that experimentation is good and the rule of law is good and I can’t think of a law that should keep Facebook from trying this.
Facebook can be forced to comply with laws passed by the US government just like banks and credit card processors are (who currently do much of the actual financial transacting).
My solution is going to be to not use it, just as I don’t use any of Facebook’s other products.
20th and 21st century companies have scrip too. The important part is that American Airlines can’t force you to buy your bread at their company store.
I think there are arguments that Facebook has more power over the average person than a company store did, but I think they’re pretty weak. Very few people have to have a Facebook account for their livelihood. Even among those who do, I am skeptical that Facebook can exert the sort of all-encompassing control that company towns did over their employees.
I don’t like the idea of Facebook being in charge of my finances. And the way I plan to ensure that, is to not put them in charge of their finances. Yeah, obviously it would be to Facebook’s benefit if everyone decided to use their private currency. But it equally obviously won’t be in anyone else’s benefit to do so, and so the idea won’t take off. I don’t think governments need to do anything; I think it’ll flop all on its own.
There aren’t that many anti-fiat nuts. And those that exist are largely broke. I think there is plenty of non-ideological money in cryptos right now. I do agree that a big selling point is being able to allude governments, for now anyway, which explains the China numbers you cite.
A mainstream company like FB is in getting into it, there’s all kinds of research going on in this field. The interest in it far outweighs the ideologicals who started it.
Ddamn, dude; you’re on fire lately! 
It kind of strikes me as renaming the gift card system. “I’ll pay you $20 to give me a piece of plastic/account number with some kind of balance on it. You (Facebook in this case) gets to hold/use my money until I chose to use that card/account, and then the cost will be deducted from my total, until I reach zero, or decide to add another $20”
The bank that receives the W-9 cannot “stick it in a filing cabinet and never look at it again”; they are obligated to report information about the account and the account-holder to the IRS each year, and in some cases withhold monies to be remitted to the IRS. It’s that regulatory burden that causes many foreign financial institutions to decline to do business with US citizens.
No, perjury is probably the right word. Most countries require people opening bank accounts to make certain representations to the relevant bank regulator about their identity, tax situation, and so forth; lying to that regulator may well be a criminal act, and it has nothing to do with the status of the individual teller.
I think you missed the part where septimus’s son was NOT able to open an account even after spending the time.
The relevant question was perhaps, “Will you open an account for this particular US citizen?”; because of the additional burden of IRS reporting requirements, foreign banks often decline to open accounts for US citizens whose business they don’t think will be profitable and worth the effort, even if they are happy to open accounts for other and wealthier/higher-profit US citizens. The answer to “Do you open accounts for US citizens?” is not infrequently “it depends; fill out this paperwork and we will decide whether you qualify.”
If it is going to be just like a fiat currency, just instead of being controlled by a country, it is controlled by Facebook, then the US (and other countries) will have to find a way to nix it. Otherwise it would mean that global transactions could no longer be monitored by the government without the cooperation of Facebook. It’s good for the general public, but terrible for the government tax offices. Once your money goes off-grid and in to facebucks (let’s face it, that’s the better name - thanks Turnip) it is invisible.
The bank enters your information into their database management system, most importantly your tax ID number. The W9 at that point is garbage to be stored. Smart banks scan the garbage and store it digitally and never look at it again.
I guess I should stop lying to bank tellers about the niceness of my day, just to be sure.
As soon as you have to buy something, the money comes back on grid. I could have sacks of cash under my bed that I got from selling drugs. The day I try to buy a car or a house with them is the day that the IRS finds out I haven’t been paying my taxes.
It would be the same if I tried to by a house or a car with my Libra. I could only shelter my annual clothing and food budget, and that would only work if Safeway and Old Navy accept Libras.
Is lying to the tellers a criminal act in your country? Lying to the government is a criminal act in many countries, including mine ((18 U.S.C. § 1001), and that includes filling out government-required forms with false information.
I don’t think that’s true.
American Airline miles are a fiat currency controlled by American Airlines. You can buy all sorts of stuff with them, world-wide, and those purchases can’t be monitored by the government without the cooperation of American Airlines. No one seems to care much.
Also, agreed that we should all call them Facebucks.
Please site a case where someone was charged with perjury for failing to disclose to a bank teller their citizenship status.
I don’t know why you are making such a big deal out of this. A bank made a business decision not to allow a business to open a commercial account. It sounds like you’re having an issue with capitalism.
FaceBook already tried a cash system. Do any other long-time users remember it? You could use it for app purchases and coffee at some national chain. It flopped and when they decided to close it, they gave you a limited time to use it. I lost about $10.
I see no reason to expect any different result this time.