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Re:Facebook's Novi wallet hits trouble as two top engineers ... by ashtonkem on Tuesday October 12, 2021 @08:32PM (#28846824)
I have no insider knowledge, but my guess is that nobody wants to work on this project. Best to avoid any project that might get you hauled in front of the senate, which has already happened to Libra.
Re:Facebook's Novi wallet hits trouble as two top engineers ... by davidgerard on Wednesday October 13, 2021 @03:30AM (#28849311)
Libra is a zombie project. It was effectively killed as of the July 2019 House and Senate hearings; it's just taken years to stop twitching.

A pile of Libra/Diem/Novi people have left. I think it's less fear of being hauled up in front of the Senate, and just being sick of spending their lives in development hell. Even the original instigator of Libra, Morgan Beller, left in late 2020.

The last attempt to get permission to do Diem was earlier this year, when they wanted to do a US dollar stablecoin with an actual bank (Silvergate) holding the backing. But a consumer stablecoin that's meant to serve as money in society was still too much to allow, particularly from Facebook. So Novi is now scouting around for other stablecoins to use in its wallet software.

This is assuming a significant number of users of Facebook-owned apps want to use Facebook for payments, which is unclear. Messenger Pay/Facebook Pay has existed since 2015 and still has negligible volume as a percentage of the FB userbase.

Re:Facebook's Novi wallet hits trouble as two top engineers ... by asdfman123 on Tuesday October 12, 2021 @10:00PM (#28847397)
Hell, dude. That's hard to imagine. Maybe it's hard for them to recruit world leading experts on crypto, but Facebook still has a ton of top talent and a ton of hungry people willing to make a name for themselves within the company.
Re:Facebook's Novi wallet hits trouble as two top engineers ... by hnbad on Wednesday October 13, 2021 @04:30AM (#28849689)
Sure but justifying working for Facebook or in crypto currencies to yourself takes enough cognitive dissonance, I can't imagine the lengths you have to got to to justify working on Facebook's crypto currency projects.
Re:Facebook's Novi wallet hits trouble as two top engineers ... by asdfman123 on Wednesday October 13, 2021 @12:31PM (#28854266)
It's easy if you actually believe the libertarian crypto gospel like many do.

Or just believe that technology is inevitable, and you might as well be the one building it.

Re:Facebook's Novi wallet hits trouble as two top engineers ... by rabuse on Wednesday October 13, 2021 @02:08PM (#28855428)
This mindset is not as abundant as the older days, as a lot of us developers are now becoming more "morally" aware of how our code affects society on international scales.
Re:Facebook's Novi wallet hits trouble as two top engineers ... by asdfman123 on Wednesday October 13, 2021 @02:37PM (#28855730)
Yeah, but my point is not everyone thinks the same.

You might think that way, and consciousness about the greater effects of technology on the world are coming into focus, but there are still plenty of people who don't see it that way at all. Or they don't care so much and just want a paycheck.

It's harder to get young liberals in oil, finance and defense, yet those industries still have plenty of talented people working for them.

Re:Facebook's Novi wallet hits trouble as two top engineers ... by nuclearnice1 on Tuesday October 12, 2021 @09:16PM (#28847127)
Is some 2 years at Facebook developer going to end up in front of the senate?

Well, possible, I guess. It could be exciting!

Re:Facebook's Novi wallet hits trouble as two top engineers ... by AlbertCory on Tuesday October 12, 2021 @09:35PM (#28847234)
Maybe not as "a 2-year developer" but if they make VP of Novi, then yeah, they'd better lawyer up.
Re:Facebook's Novi wallet hits trouble as two top engineers ... by ashtonkem on Tuesday October 12, 2021 @09:26PM (#28847181)
Theoretically it’s possible! But unlikely, I’ll admit.