
Facebook plans cryptocurrency debut - majinbuu
https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/06/facebook-libra-launch/
======
wz1000
Can anyone explain what the point of a pegged cryptocurrency is? Since you are
dependent on the issuing entity to honour the stated peg, why not just have
your balance be an entry in a regular database maintained by that entity? What
exactly does the blockchain gain you here?

One thing it does _not_ get you is censorship resistance. If the central
authority wants to take away coins from a wallet, all it needs to do is to
simply state that it will not honour the peg for coins originating from that
wallet. This can be tracked by FIFO, dilution or any other stated accounting
principle, and renders the balance in that wallet worthless.

~~~
will_brown
>Can anyone explain what the point of a pegged cryptocurrency is?

What was the point of arcades taking your quarters and issuing you tokens for
the machines? Why not just allow the machines to take your quarters?

The idea is for the issuer to take real money from you and issue you Monopoly
money which the issuer can track and control. In a worst case scenario the
issuer can make up new rules (change their terms and conditions on you) or
declare bankruptcy/dissolve and not honor the redemption of your stable coins
at all.

~~~
InvisibleCities
But that doesn't really answer the question being asked. If the cryptocurrency
is completely controlled by a centralized authority who has absolute rights
over the system, why bother with the technical and cognitive hurdles of using
a blockchain? A standard ledger in a centralized database is more than
adequate for that task, and much easier to maintain.

~~~
panic
It puts their currency in the same semantic basket as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The effort to give these other currencies legitimacy also gives Facebook’s
currency legitimacy; many people who support these other currencies will also
support Facebook’s. If Facebook’s currency is attacked, it becomes (in some
sense) an attack on all cryptocurrencies.

~~~
elcomet
Come on, I'd say it gives the currency an aura of bullshit.

Real currencies (USD, EUR, ..) are stored by visa / mastercard in regular
databases, so why not facebook's currency ?

------
giaour
From Facebook's perspective, the advantage is that everyone has already
forfeited any expectation of privacy wrt financial transactions, since they're
recorded on a public ledger. They would be able to link certain transaction
events (i.e., ones that happen over Messenger or other Facebook properties) to
real identities, so this project will give them tons of data to mine

~~~
jacobush
This made me a little sick to my stomach. I thought I was jaded, but imagine
the worlds economy running in FB.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
They probably want to be the West's WeChat.

------
negamax
I will revisit this thread in 2021 just to see how wrong everyone was. FB has
billions of users that interact with its product everyday. People who make
plans, attend events, split all sort of bills.

A borderless _stablecoin_ will be a gamechanger. It can fuel commerce but
above that it will kill many middlemen and rightly so.

~~~
fullshark
A payments system on Facebook makes a ton of sense and would be very useful. I
just don't get why it has to be cryptocurrency.

~~~
zeroxfe
Two things I can think of:

\- you can get transparency (the entire ledger must be public, so you reduce
the risk of many kids of internal fraud and manipulation.)

\- you can use these coins outside the facebook ecosystem -- I can't think of
immediate value here, but I can see a long play where Facebook can turn into a
bank

~~~
rafiki6
This is the first and only comment I've read that actually gives credence to
the idea of FB making it as a cryptocurrency, but it still falls short of a
simple idea and gives FB too much credit for being an "open" player. FB is the
issuer, why can't they just provide APIs to their ledger and APIs for
settlement so it can be used outside of their direct ecosystem, but still
allows them full control? FB wants to keep people in their ecosystem.

------
kolinko
A few points:

\- some pegged currencies are still decentralised (e.g. MakerDAO) - they rely
solely on smart contracts \- even with a centralised peg, you have to trust an
organisation to keep the collateral, but the contract can state that anyone
can move the funds around, so the managing organisation cannot just remove
funds at will

Also, compared to a centralised database, you have an interoperability aspect
- if it's just an organisation keeping everyone's balances, it's hard to make
those balances interact with the rest of the blockchain ecosystem (e.g. how do
you participate in an ICO, if the crypto balances are stored in one system,
and token balances are stored in another? implement APIs for every single one
of them?)

~~~
lowracle
MakerDAO is not decentralised, simply because the ETH/USD price feed isn't
decentralised. If the servers providing the feed get hacked, say goodbye to
your ETH collateral.

~~~
momentmaker
They might integrate with ChainLink, a decentralized oracle network:
[https://chain.link](https://chain.link)

~~~
kbody
That's just "decentralization" by obscurity. (emphasis on the quotes)

That aside, the main problem isn't centralization but rather the trust level.
The point is to not have to trust someone isn't serving you the false data.
Contracts must be created and ran only when the data can be cryptographically
verified to be true.

There are no trustless oracles if any of the required data are outside of the
settlement system (e.x. blockchain). Even when the data are inside, you still
have cases of collusion that make things problematic.

People are trying to sell something that's close to impossible. Especially
when they try to add infinite flexibility on it. Even with the currently low
stakes there have been incidents of "oracles" getting compromised. There are
several strategies to try and camouflage a centralized oracle to a faux
decentralized entity but eventually if stakes get high enough, your entity
will become a target and it'll become once again obvious what's happening.

------
cs702
Ultimately, the goal seems to be "one currency to rule them all." The peg may
prove necessary only initially, to gain confidence.

Unlike most other currencies, Facebook's new currency will be readily
available to and easily usable by virtually everyone everywhere, and it will
likely have very low transaction costs -- much lower than those of most
financial intermediaries. You will be able to use it as easily from New York
as from Timbuktu, bypassing the inefficiencies and high fees of the legacy
financial system.

Why use traditional nation-backed money when you can click a button on your
phone instead?

Facebook seems to be gradually morphing into a sort of _planet-wide nation_.

~~~
stephen_g
> Why use traditional nation-backed money when you can click a button on your
> phone instead?

Wait, you can't do that with your nation-backed currency? In Australia, I can
literally open my bank app and send money to any Australian account with just
a phone number and they receive it in 30 seconds or so with no fees...

Yeah, international transfers are a little harder, but for domestic transfers
it's super easy.

~~~
stickfigure
Here in the US, moving money is a huge PITA. Unless you both bank at the same
bank, money usually takes days to move. And banking at the same bank is no
guarantee it will happen faster.

Private party transactions up into the thousands of dollars (say, buying a
used car) generally require cash.

It's incredibly archaic.

------
naringas
> with zero fees via Facebook products including Messenger and WhatsApp

reminds me of the classic "If You're Not Paying For It, You Become The
Product"

edit: the prototypical crypto (bitcoin) has fees as the final (after there's
no more new btc) incentive for miners to process transactions. but this
doesn't?

probably we'll have to look at their white paper but if Facebook is the only
actor running this network why make it a cryptocurrency at all?

~~~
elliekelly
> but if Facebook is the only actor running this network why make it a
> cryptocurrency at all?

They're selling a seat at the governance table for $10 million. I suspect in
an effort to put this new token in the decentralized/not a security bucket the
SEC views ETH. That allows them to avoid registration and the enforcement
headache Kik is currently dealing with. Quite clever on Facebook's part.
Zuckerberg is smart enough to give up a bit of control and toe the line
("decentralized"... among his Wall Street friends) rather than retain complete
control and run head-first into a regulatory brick wall. FTA:

> Facebook is in talks to create an independent foundation to oversee its
> cryptocurrency, The Information reports. It’s asking companies to pay $10
> million to operate a node that can validate transactions made with its
> cryptocurrency in exchange for a say in governance of the token. It’s
> possible that node operators could benefit financially too. By introducing a
> level of decentralization to the governance of the project, Facebook may be
> able to avoid regulation related to it holding too much power over a global
> currency.

------
jshowa3
A cryptocurrency that violates one of the main tenants of cryptocurrencies.
The fact is doesn't require a centralized authority. This is basically Twitch
bits and shouldn't be classified as a cryptocurrency. As others have stated,
probably the only reason to use one is because an existing blockchain can
simply be used under a new brand.

~~~
52-6F-62
Didn't Kik try and do something similar as well and came under fire from the
SEC?

~~~
PeterisP
The main issue with SEC is that everything that claims or "wink wink nudge
nudge" implies that you should buy The Thing from them because it's going to
jump in value is essentially an investment proposal that's potentially
fraudulent and thus needs to meet SEC regulations.

Stablecoins, where you explicitly state that it's never ever going to
appreciate and make you richer by just holding it, don't meet that criteria so
SEC doesn't (and isn't allowed to) regulate them.

IRS/tax issues, and AML/KYC (anti money laundering/know your customer) laws
still are a potential issue, but that's not handled by SEC.

~~~
52-6F-62
Thanks for the clarification, both.

------
b_tterc_p
I don’t think this will be particularly successful. We already have a variety
of ways to send money. Yes Facebook is big, but so is, say, Apple and it’s
Apple Pay functionality.

I don’t know what use case this solves that isn’t fairly competitive already
although it will probably have a bitcoin style valuation bubble. It’s also
sort of capped in its utility. If it overshadows national government
currencies... the governments will be incentivized to block it. That was true
of Bitcoin but it’s doubly true of Facebook. And Facebook has to abide by laws
so it can’t just quietly work regardless of regulations like other crypto.

And what can I buy with this? If I need to convert to dollars, is an easy
facecoin swap plus a facecoin to dollars swap really be more convenient?

Edit: on Apple Pay, I’m pretty sure you can send cash. But I don’t know,
because I haven’t ever had the need to do this... which is I suppose my point.

~~~
akdfd
> it will probably have a bitcoin style valuation bubble

It's a stable coin so it can't have such a bubble. It's main utility will
probably only be cross border p2p payments for countries that allow it.

~~~
b_tterc_p
That doesn’t feel like something that’s useful for messenger integration?
Messenger integration implies to me local transactions for minor debts and
splitting fares and what not.

------
mbrock
Facebook's blockchain will most likely be a consortium of corporate
validators. In this case you could say that the blockchain is "just" a normal
distributed append-only hash-linked ledger with public verifiable records, but
nowadays the more concise term for that is "blockchain."

~~~
wz1000
Every git repository counts as a blockchain by that definition.

~~~
mbrock
Indeed you could even think of them as embodying the "proof of work" principle
in that you naturally look for the branch with the most work done to find the
true Schelling point fork for your own contributions.

(By the way, I often see these two points in the same thread: "blockchains
should be replaced with centralized SQL databases" and "Git repositories are
just like blockchains" which makes me wonder if Git repositories also ought to
be replaced with centralized SQL databases.)

~~~
wz1000
> blockchains should be replaced with centralized SQL databases

Blockchains whose tokens are subject to the authority of a central issuer
_anyway_ should be replaced with centralized SQL databases.
Bitcoin/namecoin/etc. can't be replaced with centralized databases. FBCoin
can, as can any blockchain that is supposed to track meatspace resources(since
physical resources are subject to the authority of the local government/men
with guns anyway).

> Git repositories are just like blockchains

Nope, I don't consider this to be true. Blockchains are supposed to have
decentralized consensus and allow arbitrary nodes to propose changes.

~~~
mbrock
The purpose of using a blockchain scheme to issue a centralized liability is
probably to increase trust in the system due to the public verifiability of
issuance and transfers.

~~~
wz1000
Seems to me that "trust" is the last thing the average joe would associate
cryptocurrency with. A database with a public audit trail might be a better
idea if you want that, but that certainly doesn't sound as trendy and exciting
as "blockchain".

~~~
mbrock
Indeed, the blockchain concept is more exciting and understandable for a lot
of people, so in that sense branding their consortium-controlled
cryptographically verifiable ledger as a blockchain seems like a good PR
decision.

------
apo
At some point the "blockchain not Bitcoin" crowd will wake up to the fact that
Bitcoin's value proposition is censorship resistance. Nobody can block you
from making a payment. The idea is still revolutionary, as evidenced by the
large number of people for whom Bitcoin still doesn't look like anything
(other than maybe something scary or bad).

Whatever Facebook comes up with will be the antithesis of censorship
resistant. There is no point to buy or use it because it solves no problems
for regular people.

Which brings us to why Facebook is bothering. For the simple reason that
governments print currencies. Control (through censorship) and self enrichment
( through inflation).

This only works by compelling people to use the currency. My prediction is
that Phase 2 of this ridiculous plan is to force people on Facebook to use the
token while gradually cutting third party payment processors out.

~~~
pryelluw
" There is no point to buy or use it because it solves no problems for regular
people."

I disagree with that statement. It does solve the problem of getting paid
through facebook (which a lot of people do and use). It surely promotes and
carves Facebook deeper into their lives, but it solves a problem.

Im not for this offering, but its not hard for me to see why it has a chance
of mass aadoption. Hopefully it fails.

------
mountainofdeath
So it's a cryptocurrency that's basically the equivalent of a gift card or
Chuck-E-Cheese token? How is this different from in-game currency that isn't
backed by Crypto?

Seems that FB is just riding the buzzword wave.

~~~
anonymous5133
Yes but it can still be useful. Facebook is basically planning to compete
directly with amazon in ecommerce space. In the future, you won't even have to
leave facebook to buy something. The merchant will be able to process orders
directly through facebook.

Also my guess is informal trading markets will form using this facebook
currency. If everyone is using the same form of payment then cross boarder
trade becomes much easier. No more foreign exchange hassles. I've already seen
it happen with stuff like amazon gift cards but recently amazon removed the
ability to check the balance of amazon gift cards. I have already moved away
from accepting amazon gift cards for this very reason. If facebook's coin is
widely used and can be used to buy a lot of different stuff then I would
definitely shift my informal trading to the facebook coin.

------
nbrempel
I’m not sure how anyone has even the slightest trust in Facebook anymore.

Why is it that people still use the service? Is convenience really that
powerful?

~~~
Bakary
I have exactly zero trust in Facebook but I have had so many irritating
moments and missed opportunities due to ditching my account years ago that I
am seriously considering reopening it again.

The main aspect I'm considering these days is that I'm not important in the
grand scheme of things so there's no rational reason to increase difficulty in
things that do really matter such as having memorable experiences while I can
in exchange for privacy or to make some statement. In a sense, I will have
privacy anyway out of just being a data point out of billions.

It's not that Facebook is convenient but rather that not having it can be
inconvenient depending on your context.

~~~
jaakl
You have zero trust in Facebook, and Facebook has zero trust in you. Perfect
use case for blockchain, right?

------
argo_
Just another fancy token... not a real currency. The only global digital
currency that has a future is bitcoin.

~~~
nikolay
Are you serious?! Bitcoin is the most unfit one. It's like saying VHS has a
future, when everybody's happier with Bluray.

------
mihaifm
If you're interested in conspiracy theories, this may be a way for Facebook to
circumvent GDPR, since financial data needs to be kept for at least 10 years.
Once you make any trade using this currency, you won't be able to request
deletion of personal data, since it's required to be kept as financial
information.

~~~
vcavallo
why couldn’t they delete everything but your trade data?

~~~
mihaifm
At the minimum they'd need to store your name and address, probably birthdate
too. It would just complicate the whole process of leaving Facebook.

~~~
vcavallo
so they’d delete everything but that. the rest of the leaving process would be
the same (I recently did it myself, it wasn’t too bad, but more annoying than
I’d like).

don’t get me wrong, i’m no fan of facebook and their data practices, but i
don’t agree with what you said above.

------
annadane
Okay, so like, I'll defend them on this in principle. That said, can you
address, like, you know, the myriad scandals you have BEFORE doing something
ELSE? It's a bad look.

~~~
Kiro
What scandals have they not addressed?

~~~
headsoup
Probably depends on what you define as 'addressed'...

------
chvid
The most logical thing for Facebook would be to create something similar to
the Chinese payment systems Alipay and WeChat Pay, bound directly to your
Facebook account and maybe even issuing credit to some accounts. Completely
different from a pseudonymous cash-like cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Tether.

~~~
Mengkudulangsat
Those are single-market, single-currency products no? Facebook wants one coin
to serve all it's 2.4bn users - a larger user base than USD I might add.

------
koolba
I think the angle here is international blockchain Venmo with a goal to
convince the non-destitute Facebook holdouts to finally sign up so that they
can commerce.

For the record I doubt that will work. The early adopters will be scammers and
people duped into thinking this is their get rich quick opportunity.

~~~
omarchowdhury
> The early adopters will be scammers and people duped into thinking this is
> their get rich quick opportunity.

It's a stablecoin. There's no get rich opportunity.

~~~
tveita
If it really is pegged to a basket of multiple currencies that makes it a bit
of a forex instrument, not just a 1:1 exchange. Someone, somewhere could
probably make a bit of money on mispricing or market movements.

------
redm
Oh hell, I was excited until I read this "Team: Facebook’s blockchain project
is overseen by former PayPal President and VP of Facebook Messenger David
Marcus." I just can't see leadership being good for Crypto if his tenure at
Paypal is any indicator.

------
archgoon
And here I thought that the zuccoins in the last FacebookCTF was an obvious
joke.

~~~
LMYahooTFY
Were there flags that were supposedly "zuckcoins" or something similar?

------
throwaway122378
Facebook will be able to pair transaction data (consumer, product, cost,
merchant) with their entire social graph. They can then offer licenses to run
nodes with the ability to access all that data.

------
kitten_smuggler
My main curiosity with this is whether or not self-custody will be an option,
or if it will be a hybridized Venmo/Blockhain implementation that is limited
to the FB app as the only wallet.

------
golergka
Payment system built into Facebook will be incredibly successful. Most small
businesses don't even bother with a website, nowadays a Facebook group and
Instagram account is enough - so it's only natural to process payments there
as well.

However, it is not going to damage Bitcoin in any way. Main use case for
Bitcoin is buying drugs. No one is going to be paying for drugs with a
currency tied to their real-world identity.

------
floor_
I find it funny that bitcoin fails to do what it was created to do and that
people are so invested in it they can't change it or let it die. You can't buy
a cup of coffee without paying large confirmation fees or delaying the
transaction for day to weeks. There was talk about decentralizing smaller
transactions to ease up on that but that defeats the whole purpose of bitcoin.

~~~
onion-soup
>You can't buy a cup of coffee without paying large confirmation fees or
delaying the transaction for day to weeks

Yes you can. On BSV which is the legacy bitcoin

~~~
stale2002
Hahahah!

Let me know when Craig Wright _actually_ signs the genesis block, and
cryptographicly proves that he is Satoshi, and does so _publicly_ in a way
that I can personally verify.

When that happens, I will give you 1000$ worth of BSV.

It won't happen though.

~~~
onion-soup
Regardless if he is satoshi or not my statement is still correct: on BSV
isntant transactions work and it scales to visa levels today. Oh, and he
doesn't owe you any proof.

------
SOLAR_FIELDS
> It could be used to offer low or no-fee payments between friends or
> remittance of earnings to familys from migrant workers abroad who are often
> gouged by money transfer services.

Doesn’t Transferwise already fill this niche? These days you can send several
hundred dollars to and from the US for around $2-4 in fees, whereas the fees
used to be $40-60 from traditional banks or Western Union.

~~~
stvswn
So you're saying you understand the value proposition and that it's been
successful elsewhere, but you don't understand why Facebook would want to do
it, or why it might make sense for the company who already has messaging apps
on billions of phones?

------
loriverkutya
Am I the only one concerned about giving even more information to Facebook
about my spending?

------
ausbah
I have long been skeptical of cryptocurrencies, but I think that such beliefs
are rooted more in crappy misapplications and hype then reality. Can anyone
link some sources that may be able to change my mind?

------
no1youknowz
Who knew back in 1988 that what the Economist predicted would come true?

[https://i.imgur.com/mWj0d3f.png](https://i.imgur.com/mWj0d3f.png)

~~~
tim333
Though I think they were predicting a currency that would replace national
currencies in the manner of the Euro which I can't see Facebook's doing.

------
tastygreenapple
How do you think the community standards and cryptocurrency are going to
interact? If Facebook deplatforms you, do they take your zuccbucks?

------
Lxr
What is the best way to profit from all this crypto hype, as a rational person
who’s convinced all coins will eventually go to zero?

~~~
cygaril
Getting involved is risky - even if you are right (and I think you are), the
price could still increase by a large amount for a long time before sense
reasserts itself.

As Keynes apparently did not say: "The market can stay irrational a lot longer
than you can stay solvent."

If you hit your trading / credit limits you could lose a lot of money despite
being right in the long run.

And as Keynes definitely did say, "In the long run, we are all dead."

~~~
anonymous5133
Pretty sure facebook coin is a stable coin. You cant make money trading it.
You can only make money by using it for trading.

------
m3kw9
Not sure how they can solve the 51% attack in the beginning when you have
massive asic farms ready to roll in an instance

~~~
np_tedious
You have to pay $10 million, and presumably enter into some contracts /
business arrangements, to run a full node

------
haunter
So it's basically just a virtual currency a la Twitch Bits, Riot Points, old
Xbox Points etc. but running on blockchain

------
keiru
So to summarize, the Facebook plan might look like this: (IANAL, so please
correct me)

\- Create a global currency that can only be used by FB users and through FB
apps.

\- Invest a billion in pegging the currency to make it stable and position it
as the unchallenged WorldMoney™, but it will eventually carry its own weight
in the long term.

\- Collect direct purchase information like crazy, their ultimate wet dream (I
know GDPR is not circumvented by the taxes thing, but it's as simple as asking
"Can I track your purchases?" and people will simply say yes.)

\- Implement this scheme as a blockchain to dodge antitrust laws (or whatever
applies when you become a worldwide financial entity) by distributing the
operation/management/governance among interested parties.

\- Even receive some millions from said companies to hold that power in the
first place.

\- Still hold the real power over the implementation at the end of the day,
but not the accountability.

\- Dodge taxes like crazy wherever you can, charge fees whenever you want,
etc.

\- Make users comply to whatever conditions you want because at some point it
will become mandatory to have a FB account.

Am I missing something?

EDIT: - Pay their employees and finance their worldwide operation with
monopoly money.

------
spookybones
Will there be any financial advantage to owning Libra coins (or whatever
they’ll be called) early?

------
throwaway122378
This should be blocked by lawmakers if they are serious about their recent
tech monopoly chatter

------
booleandilemma
“Facebook plans gift card system”

------
m-i-l
To all the cryptocurrency devotees dreaming of a new world cryptocurrency
displacing existing government-backed central banks - be careful what you wish
for, it just might come true. This might be the next phase of surveillance
capitalism, like Orwell except driven by a private corporation for profit
rather than accountable governments for "the greater good".

~~~
qwsxyh
You say that as if that's not what they want.

~~~
m-i-l
Well given the pseudoanonymous nature of the original cryptocurrency, and its
popularity for illegal activities, I would assume not. But maybe it is more
about rampant capitalism and maximise-personal-profit-at-whatever-cost
nowadays.

------
azhng
SEC: we are going to fine Kik alot of money for unauthorized ICO

Facebook: hold my beer

~~~
kitten_smuggler
This is not an ICO.

------
nikolay
The biggest nonsense I've ever heard.

------
JackFr
Is there anything more here than a payment system?

------
telaelit
I remember reading about company money in history books. Looks like we’re
going back in time.

------
kjar
Facebucks? Rhymes with...

------
jbverschoor
More and more I get the feeling that the majority of the HN crowd are FB
employees.

Any other post about crypto is a scam. Any other tech than react is immature.
Etc etc.

Have fun at FB guys, I hope your share vest soon

~~~
NoodleIncident
Are you joking? In every thread about FB besides this one, almost every single
comment actively bashes FB.

~~~
seangrant
This is something I've wondered... Do all Facebook/Google employees drink the
Kool aid? Are there no privacy proponents?

~~~
entropea
You have to have loose morals & ethics, be a misanthrope, or be completely
oblivious to the world to even work at Facebook or Google anymore.

~~~
igravious
I think you could make that case easily for Facebook but less easily for
Google. The number of useful Google products (AOSP, for instance) is enormous.
They contribute massively to open source†. Their co-founders clearly have less
evil tendencies that Facebook's founder. Their free products are insanely
useful. A lot of Google's products have a price tag attached to them
especially for the enterprise sector where they don't trade your data. I would
compare Google to Apple and Microsoft and Amazon. Facebook is a totally
different entity – I'm of the opinion that Facebook should _never_ have been
allowed to acquire WhatsApp and Instagram.

† Before anyone points out that FB contribute to open source… they've about,
what, 50 projects, Google has over 2,000 and has been running that Google
Summer of Code project for many years which supports 1,000s of projects
outside Google.

------
Reason077
Let's call it "FaceCoin".

~~~
mido22
or ZuckBucks

~~~
Freak_NL
They should get Whoopi Goldberg to promote it. Worked well enough before.

------
Arbalest
No doubt to try and boost their share price.

~~~
ajiang
Public company, that is their job and legal fiduciary duty.

~~~
maxxxxx
As far as I know there is no legal requirement to do so.

~~~
capnrefsmmat
Indeed there isn’t:

> Third, corporate directors are not required to maximize shareholder value.
> As the U.S. Supreme Court recently stated, "modern corporate law does not
> require for-profit corporations to pursue profit at the expense of
> everything else, and many do not do so." (BURWELL v. HOBBY LOBBY STORES,
> INC.) In nearly all legal jurisdictions, disinterested and informed
> directors have the discretion to act in what they believe to be the interest
> of the business corporate entity, even if this differs from maximizing
> profits for present shareholders. Usually maximizing shareholder value is
> not a legal obligation, but the product of the pressure that activist
> shareholders, stock-based compensation schemes and financial markets impose
> on corporate directors.

[https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/academics/clarke_business_...](https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/academics/clarke_business_law_institute/corporations-
and-society/Common-Misunderstandings-About-Corporations.cfm)

