[Cryptography] Our leader opines on cryptocurrencies

[John Levine]

In article <CAKco+gzZYuhQbLmPCWteVbhYjw_FyfiMZ4gwPcKrLzr+nq3oMQ at mail.gmail.com> you write:
>So, Libra is indeed a massive threat to USD as the dominant currency of the
>world. Right now, USD is the easiest currency to move around the world,
>accepted almost anywhere at face value with the best exchange rates. Libra
>is a massive threat to this status, and also remember that it is backed not
>just by USD but a combination of currencies, which gives it even more
>transactional power.

I fear that some people may be a little weak on scale issues.  There is about $1.7 trillion
in US cash in circulation, and about $14 trillion in bank deposits.  I will eat my hat if
Libra ever has a total cap of $10 billion, which would be 0.08% of US bank deposits.

Master Card can process 38,000 transactions per second, and Visa about
the same.  Good luck doing that with a blockchain, even a closed
non-PoW one.

I can imagine a variety of reaons that Libra is a bad idea, but wholesale replacement
of the USD is not one of them.

R's,
John