Regulators will need to “step up” to contain any dangers emanating from Facebook’s planned libra token, but shouldn’t attempt to crush the initiative, according to International Monetary Fund acting MD David Lipton.
Bitcoin slid below $10 000 just three weeks after surging above it for the first time in more than a year as US legislators expressed deep scepticism about the viability of cryptocurrencies.
The US congress holding hearings on Facebook’s plan for a possible digital coin suggests that the high-profile debut for libra was likely a public relations effort gone bad.
Facebook’s foray into digital currencies risks reversing gains in privacy and user sovereignty won by computer networking pioneers, according to one of the co-founders of ethereum.
President Donald Trump on Thursday night warned Facebook over its plan to create a digital currency, the libra, a move that poses a new obstacle to the company’s cryptocurrency ambitions.
Financial regulators must act fast to prepare for the push by US technology giants like Facebook into the financial system, according to European Central Bank executive board member Benoit Coeure.
Visa, Mastercard and PayPal may have boosted the single, greatest risk they face – that of tougher regulation – by becoming early backers for Facebook’s new digital money, called libra.
Among Facebook’s justifications for introducing a new digital currency, libra, the company has offered one pious rationale: to connect the 1.7 billion adults who lack bank accounts to the global financial system.
Facebook’s libra cryptocurrency has taken a lot of criticism from Western government officials and media commentators – but it’s not meant for them.
Bitcoin continued its stellar rally on Wednesday, surpassing the $12 000 level for the first time in almost a year and a half.