Nick Szabo  🔑

Protip: If ones decentralized cryptocurrency is backed by centralized fiat currencies then it is neither decentralized nor a cryptocurrency. Protip 2: Decentralization is a means to an end. The end is censorship resistance. Libra is neither.

"Censorship resistance" is what some seek. Others may merely seek to make payments conveniently. I don't know whether Libra will serve either end well; but that some want chocolate ice cream is no reason for them to condemn a plan that caters to those who prefer vanilla.

Censorship resistance is not merely just another consumer preference. In today's political climate it is very probably a necessary condition for the survival of any private digital currency.

Antifa will influence payment processors.

They and a far greater number of many otherwise like-minded people who normally stop short of violence but are perfectly willing to using digitally centralized finance to destroy their political enemies' livelihoods.

People make the mistake thinking that censorship-resistant payments are only about the product being purchased. "Who would censor buying coffee". But censorship resistance is also about the individual or organization doing the purchasing.