Like him or not, Mark Zuckerberg is one of the brilliant coders, innovators, and entrepreneurs in this century. We, the advocates of decentralized system of course prefer decentralized alternatives to the networks like Facebook. In my opinion Facebook was a necessary step in the evolution of internet. If it wasn't Zuckerberg, it would be someone else who would create such a network that would attract billions of people to the platform. He was successful in creating this network and building a company. I personally do not use Facebook. My preference is decentralized networks like Hive. I believe this is the next step in the evolution of the internet. However, centralized networks like Facebook are not going away. Not just yet. They may however, choose to rebrand and call themselves something else like Meta, in ambitions to be part of the future.
While being a CEO of one of the most influential centralized companies, it seems to me, Mark kept up with the innovations in technology and also so the shift in directions that was started with the creation of bitcoin and continued with the wave of innovations in the crypto-sphere. Not only he was able to recognize this movement and dedicate a year to thoroughly study, he came to a conclusion that he had to participate in crypto world and potentially make this a bigger win for Facebook. When he came up with project Libra, a sort of a stable coin but not pegged to any one fiat currency but rather a basket of the major fiat currencies.
I think for any big company that is involved in internet technologies one way or the other, neglecting the power of crypto movement would be a mistake. However, these big companies have bigger obstacles to overcome as well. The main one being the governments. I like the fact, despite knowing the challenges, Mark Zuckerberg did start this project. If successful this would have been a huge win for Facebook. They already are one of the largest networks, if not the largest in the world. Ability to control money and transactions would be much more powerful.
The problem I see with Zuckerberg and many other so called crypto or technology leaders is that they want to make their own project that they can control and dictate how things should be. I understand they have armies of developers, resources, connections, and tons of money at their disposal. This obviously may influence their decision making too. However, Mark and others just easily could adopt what already exists like bitcoin, instead of building their own. This is where I believe Mark has failed in his endeavor of participating in crypto space.
Libra project, then rebranded to Diem, no doubt created a lot of noise and brought more attention to bitcoin and crypto overall. That is a good thing for bitcoin and crypto. Failure of the project is also a good thing for bitcoin and crypto. That just shows decentralization is the way to go.
Yesterday Diem Association announced that their assets are sold to bank holding company Silvergate Capital and this marks the end of Diem project. From the very start this project, then known as Libra faced opposition from government officials, lawmakers and regulators. They were able to bring top brand companies into the mix and try to convince everybody Facebook wasn't going to be in control. It will be decentralized. lol. Sort of. Meaning they will share the pie with other big companies. I wasn't fond of the idea then, nor am I now. But I welcomed the efforts and ambitions.
This showed us how governments are really concerned about protecting fiat. Technological innovation or not, fiat is what the global financial system is built on, control of money belongs to central banks and governments. Doesn't matter how big of a company or group of companies get together. They will not be allowed to the super elite group that controls the creation of money. At least not yet.
Now, if Zuckerberg chose the path of adopting already existing money network like bitcoin, I think things could have been different. At first he might have failed, but the project wouldn't fail. But also this would help Facebook to improve its reputation, instead of resorting to ways of rebranding to something like Meta. It doesn't seem like Zuckerberg and Facebook/Meta are done just yet. He is still aiming for something bigger. Maybe they will be able to transform their network to a metaverse of sorts. And if that is successful, creating a cryptocurrency will be back on the table.
Sooner or later though, they will have to realize the decentralization is the way forward. They had their success, they had their profits, they had their fun. I would suggest use your resources to something good, or maybe even better. This wouldn't necessarily mean give up business mind and profits. I believe companies can be part of decentralized system and still be profitable.
On a separate news, today there was an earning call and report for Meta. It looks like Meta is still suffering from changes Apple implemented regarding user tracking that gave companies like Meta/Facebook sell more personalize ads. Google might be taking similar steps too. This will mean less ads money for Meta. But I think they are big enough to figure out ways around them. I dislike ads. But that's how these companies make money.
I can only hope that decentralized networks like Hive keep growing and taking away market share from centralized networks, so that networks actually serve and benefit its participants. Bye Diem! This movie was going to be interesting, but ended before it even started.