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

<p>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.</p> <p>------<br /> ✨ DEBRIEF | Ryan & David unpacking the episode:<br /> <a href= "https://www.bankless.com/debrief-david-marcus">https://www.bankless.com/debrief-david-marcus</a> </p> <p>-----<br /> From whitepaper to being summoned in front of Congress in 3 weeks…what really happened to Facebook’s stablecoin endeavors and what can we learn from it?</p> <p>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. </p> <p>Topics covered in today’s episode: <br /> 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?<br /> 2) Why SuperApps won’t work?<br /> 3) Why our David Marcus thinks the money layer of the internet will be built on crypto…but more specifically…on Bitcoin!</p> <p>-----<br /> TIMESTAMPS</p> <p>0:00 Intro<br /> 7:20 The Libra Project <br /> 9:10 Facebook’s Involvement <br /> 9:59 Super App Thesis<br /> 12:05 Getting Government Approval <br /> 14:39 Messaging & Payments Intersection <br /> 16:45 Releasing the White Paper <br /> 18:05 Libra’s Government Reaction  <br /> 19:50 Summoned to Congress Experience<br /> 21:25 U.S. Crypto Competition <br /> 25:40 Government Money Power Structure <br /> 30:00 FedNow <br /> 42:40 Will Twitter/X Become a Super App?<br /> 48:18 Bear Case for Super App<br /> 51:42 Lightspark<br /> 54:35 Bitcoin vs. Stablecoins<br /> 58:15 Why Lightning Uses Bitcoin<br /> 1:06:25 Bitcoin vs. Ethereum<br /> 1:11:37 The Future in 5-10 Years <br /> 1:14:40 Closing & Disclaimers</p> <p>-----<br /> RESOURCES</p> <p>David Marcus <br /> <a href= "https://twitter.com/davi