I'm puzzled by HN's attitude towards Libra. I can understand being wary of having Facebook run the world's money and how a metacurrency such as Libra could break world economics as we know it, but I can't help be excited about the prospect of widespread digital money usage and FB is one of the few companies that can drive that. Perhaps HN draws its animosity towards Libra from all the cryptocurrency shenanigans of the last few years, but given this community is comfortable with innovation and risk, I would expect HN to be imagining usecases and scenarios for digital money rather than dismiss the whole concept based on emotion related to Facebook and/or cryptocurrencies.<p>If the world does move ahead with central bank issued digital currencies - and it seems there's a lot of chatter in that area - then a metacurrency will no doubt pop up at some point anyway. Because that's what I expect hackers will find fascinating and because it will suddenly become possible. So we'll get Libra one way or another, but it may not be Facebook's.<p>A full fledged digital currency ecosystem will be incompatible with the status quo to a large degree, but that's no reason for dismissal. Doesn't all innovation challenge the status quo? Ultimately, the cat it out of the bag and the question is not if, but how digital scarcity, whether trustful or trustless (or a mix of the two), will impact our definition and use of money.<p>We'll have to ensure AML rules evolve to fit the new paradigm and that's fine. But we shouldn't look at existing AML frameworks and refuse innovation because our solutions for the past don't fit our possibilities for the future.<p>And regardless of the outcome of Libra, Facebook is making huge inroads in prompting conversations and ultimately regulating digital money, which in itself is a huge win. Given the negative govt and public reactions and their standing ground on the matter, they're doing it at their own expense and I'll give them kudos for that. I don't see any of the existing forces in the finance ecosystem do anything close to this.<p>Money and payments have stood still amidst the digital revolution. Imagine micropayments for consuming online content and how they could address some of the biggest issues prompted by the attention economy. The likes of visa and mastercard could've made this a real at any moment in the last 20 years or so.<p>I welcome anyone trying to do something bold. It's progress, regardless of the outcome of any specific project.