Watch Richard Strul’s prediction about the future of Facebook and Libra on video. According to him Facebook will try to set up a system similar to WeChat in which Libra will have a leading role. The reflections presented in this series of predictions also touch on other ideas of a macro-economic nature. We invite you to discuss each prediction and share your views with us.
What is WeChat?
It’s a Chinese social network with more than a billion users. We can no longer really call it a social network, but rather a set of applications that allows you to do almost anything:
- chat by messaging
- make calls
- share photos and videos (live if desired)
- order a taxi driver
- book a plane ticket
- pay via WeChat Pay (it is even possible to pay your electricity bills or taxes!)
At the moment it is necessary to link a bank account or credit card to your WeChat account. The digital yuan should most certainly be implemented in this ecosystem. Even if WeChat currently remains confined to Asia, it could try to establish itself in the West in order to overshadow the euro and the dollar.
Richard Strul indicates that the digital environment over the last 5 years has been defined by companies such as Google, Apple, Facebook… in order to be able to track their users as well as possible. The fact that we are identified (logged in) and many people use these ‘services’ allows us to track our movements and the number of ‘customers’ to make reliable statistics. Facebook is a social network, of exchanges, so it will be easier to make it a network of transactions and Bitcoin Aussie System. Still according to Richard Strul, Facebook and the United States would be well advised to implement this in order to counter WeChat and maintain the “supremacy” of the dollar over the yuan.
The Institute of Economics
An association created in 2011, the Institut de l’Iconomie is an independent think tank that analyses the stakes, the balance of power, as well as the risks and opportunities in order to design a possible future. Its members often have opposing sensitivities, which requires them to refer to the rigour of foresight, hence the formation of predictions.
The Institut de l’Iconomie is made up of entrepreneurs, economists, managers, statisticians, researchers and sociologists.
The speakers in this webinar are therefore not from the “crypto-sphere” and do not necessarily share the ideals of the cypherpunks or the majority of people who possess crypto-actives. However, it is always interesting to see how the future of the cryptomatics industry is perceived.
You are invited to vote in order to give your opinion on each prediction, but also to debate, comment and make your views known. Click here to view other predictions by members of the Institute of Economics.