Thread by @hosseeb

1/ I've been seeing a lot of FUD the last couple days about the Libra killing smart contract platforms. The Libra is not competitive with ETH or any other smart contract platform. Thread. 👇

2/ It's important to realize that Libra is run by a consortium of companies that will be held liable for whatever happens on their platform—legally and politically. If fraud, Ponzi schemes, or hacks occur on Libra, these companies will be ripped apart by Congress.

3/ We're seeing it already in the political backlash against the Libra announcement (EU, Maxine Waters). Facebook clearly sees this risk, which is why they make repeated references to anti-abuse, AML, chargebacks, and zero tolerance for illegal activity.

4/ This squares with the white paper saying that Libra is going to be tightly controlled and transactions will be reversible by 2/3rds consensus. What else do you think anti-abuse policies mean? It will be a censored chain. Code is not law on Libra.

5/ In other words, if you try to get up to nonsense on their network, they'll just kick you off and take away your money.

6/ At launch, they won't even let developers run arbitrary contracts. Move, their smart contract language, isn't totally specified yet. But initially you will only be able to run THEIR pre-specified contracts.

7/ The reality is, smart contracts are super exciting to us in crypto-land. But inviting them into Libra's walled garden is mostly inviting fraud, financial speculation, hacks, and gambling. FB and their buddies don't want to be anywhere near that.

8/ If you must, Libra / Calibra is best understood as an $XLM / $XRP competitor. They want to be a global payments and remittances layer, owning P2P and merchant payments. But they could care less about current cryptocurrencies: in their head, they're competing with Alipay.

9/ There's also a telling phrase here: "third party development." I wouldn't be surprised if this means that smart contract developers will need to be vetted and approved by the Libra Foundation. Makes sense post Cambridge Analytica. Think FB developer network.

10/ In short, the Libra will be huge and I laud everything they're doing. But they're playing a different game. They want to be Alipay or WeChat, not Ethereum.

Ethereum might not win smart contracts in the long run. But if it loses, it won't be to the Libra. So knock it off. END