Since Facebook’s cryptocurrency, Libra was announced about three months ago, it has faced a lot of distrust from several governments, bankers, politicians and regulators.
One of the governments who have openly come out to criticise Libra is the French Government which said it would block the development of Facebook’s Libra in Europe.
The Minister of the Economy and Finance of France, Bruno Le Maire stated that plans for Libra were stalled until concerns over consumer risk and governments’ monetary sovereignty were addressed.
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While speaking at a conference in Paris, Le Maire said: “I want to be absolutely clear: in these conditions, we cannot authorise the development of Libra on European soil.”
He further spoke about the dangers the digital currency posed.
“The monetary sovereignty of countries is at stake from possible privatisation of money by a sole actor with more than 2 billion users on the planet.”
Recall that Nairametrics had reported that concerns were raised that Libra could reduce the European Central Bank’s control over the Euro and threaten the economy as well.
“Depending on Libra’s level of acceptance and on the referencing of the euro in its reserve basket, it could reduce the ECB’s control over the euro. What’s more, the cryptocurrency could impair the monetary policy transmission mechanism by affecting the liquidity position of euro area banks, and undermine the single currency’s international role, for instance by reducing demand for it,” Yves Mersch, a board member at the Frankfurt institution said.
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What you should know about Libra: Libra, which will be launched in the first half of 2020, is expected to be backed by a reserve of currency assets to avoid the wild swings experienced by bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
The idea is expected to allow Facebook users send money to one another and pay for goods and services through Facebook’s linked apps such as Messenger and Whatsapp.
Other supporters of Libra include the payment companies – Visa, MasterCard and PayPal, and the ride-hailing apps, Lyft and Uber.
