The eye catcher: Maxine Waters’ reaction to Facebook’s Libra …
Facebook’s announcement that it is getting closer to releasing a cryptocurrency has regulators in the United States in a wee bit of a tizzy. For example, U.S. Representative Maxine Waters, chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, asked that Facebook put a moratorium on activity to release the crypto-coin, known as Libra, in 2020.
“Given the company’s troubled past, I am requesting that Facebook agree to a moratorium on any movement forward on developing a cryptocurrency until Congress and regulators have the opportunity to examine these issues and take action,” Mrs. Waters said.
Facebook’s issues with adequately protecting the behavioral data of its platform’s users is a continued topic of discussion among the consumer protection folks. As a protector of the American payment system, Mrs. Waters concerns are expected. A platform that is used by 2 billion people across the globe with a digital payment system overlay should raise concerns for any nation as that new payment systems entrant poses a competitive alternative for people using currency to seek out and purchase goods and services of value to them. Reducing the transaction fees assessed on currency movement and purchases provide a benefit to consumers and to holders of capital seeking to increase returns.
Privacy. Disposing the non-issue …
I will dispose of the data privacy issue side note before moving on to the more important issue of black political economy empowerment. If Mrs. Waters is that concerned with saving Americans from the privacy bogeyman, she would bring members across the aisle in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Science, Commerce and Transportation and offer a comprehensive bill on privacy that encompasses data collection behavior on the part of core providers, such as AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon, and edge providers, such as Facebook and Google.
Democrats have shown no balance on the issue of internet regulation and acting as if Facebook’s cryptocurrency is a surprise only signals to the internet industry that Congress lacks vision and intends to remain hopelessly behind the technology curve. The privacy issue should not be used to slow down Facebook’s crypto initiative.
Facebook’s Libra is an outline for the African Diaspora’s Next Step ….
What Mrs. Waters and the rest of the black American political elite may not appreciate is the schematic a digital coin tethered to other currencies or securities provides for the African Diaspora community. For example, a digital payment system provides a conduit between the African Diaspora in the United States and the African continent. Currency is an information transmitter and if digitized it means that the information currency transmits about wealth and opportunity can be sent without the friction introduced by unneeded intermediaries.
The block chain technology that such a platform would be built on provides transparency in the form of a digital ledger linked by cryptography. By design, data transmitted in the block chain is resistant to modification.
Reduced friction in transactions facilitates digital data flows. It means reduced costs for the cross border flow of capital. Broadband technology would not only enhance the search and confirmation of investment opportunities in Africa, it makes greater use of block chain technology possible.
And while Facebook’s mission is to “connect the world”, Facebook’s priority is not economic empowerment of blacks. This opens an opportunity for engineers, scientists, technologists, and economists in the African Diaspora to build their own digital platform linking the western and eastern hemispheres with a digital currency designed to run over this platform. The resulting creation of capital on both continents can be used to build food processing plants that are desperately needed in Ghana and increasing the size, production efficiencies, and marketing efforts of black-owned farms in the United States.
Conclusion: Keep the eyes on empowerment and digital future …
Rather than slowing down Libra, Mrs. Waters and the rest of the black political elite should be asking, “How can we use this platform or the idea of this platform to our benefit?”
