Podcast

184 - Why Facebook’s Stablecoin Failed, with David Marcus

From whitepaper to being summoned in front of Congress in 3 weeks

Aug 19, 2023 • 1 min read

David Marcus started a company that was acquired by PayPal, he then became President of PayPal (running the company), then he joined Facebook as VP of the Messenger app, and that’s when he started Facebook’s Libra project. Currently, he’s the CEO and Co-founder of Lightspark, a company that builds out Bitcoin Lightning tech.

This episode is a post-mortem of Facebook’s highly ambitious crypto project from 2019. They tried to build a stablecoin but the U.S. government stopped it.

Topics covered in today’s episode:

1) Facebook’s Libra project…why did it fail? Who tanked it? The U.S. gov? The banking lobby? Why can’t the West seem to innovate its banking systems?

2) Why SuperApps won’t work?

3) Why our David Marcus thinks the money layer of the internet will be built on crypto…but more specifically…on Bitcoin!

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro

7:20 The Libra Project

9:10 Facebook’s Involvement

9:59 Super App Thesis

12:05 Getting Government Approval

14:39 Messaging & Payments Intersection

16:45 Releasing the White Paper

18:05 Libra’s Government Reaction

19:50 Summoned to Congress Experience

21:25 U.S. Crypto Competition

25:40 Government Money Power Structure

30:00 FedNow

42:40 Will Twitter/X Become a Super App?

48:18 Bear Case for Super App

51:42 Lightspark

54:35 Bitcoin vs. Stablecoins

58:15 Why Lightning Uses Bitcoin

1:06:25 Bitcoin vs. Ethereum

1:11:37 The Future in 5-10 Years

1:14:40 Closing & Disclaimers

RESOURCES

David Marcus

https://twitter.com/davidmarcus

Lightspark

https://twitter.com/Lightspark

Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here.

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