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Facebook’s Crypto Libra Shouldn’t Become Sovereign Currency, Blasts French Finance Minister

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Stephen Samuels
Last Updated

By CCN.com: Facebook’s unveiling of Libra, its cryptocurrency project coming in 2020, has caught the attention of many, including the French Finance Minister. Bruno Le Maire, speaking  on French Radio, has said that this new cryptocurrency cannot operate as a sovereign currency.

Facebook’s Libra project intends to introduce a digital currency for usage on its platforms. However, this is raising several economic issues. Concerns on its regulation, and the status of this currency, are up for debate with Le Maire giving some stern warnings.

Stern Libra warning

With its reach of over 2.3 billion users, Facebook’s cryptocurrency could well call into question the banks’ control over commercial transactions as well as the role of the state in the banking system.

It is for these reasons that Le Maire has warned that currency remains the product of sovereign states and not private companies.

“That Facebook creates its own currency, a transaction instrument, why not,” Le Marie mused . “In contrast, it is out of the question that it becomes a sovereign currency,” he then warned.

Call to regulators

Le Marie is not only issuing general warnings. He is demanding guarantees from the social media giant several. The French minister has said he wants a “guarantee that this instrument of transaction cannot be diverted to finance terrorism or any other illegal activity.”

Moreover, La Marie has also stated his intention to find out more about the project at the G7 with the central bankers in the coming months.

“I asked the central bank governors of the G7 to report to us in mid-July, when the G7 Finance Ministers will be meeting, to tell us what guarantees are to be obtained from Facebook,” added the minister.

Le Marie’s concerns not only circulate the financial implications of a privately distributed currency. The minister has also raised his concerns about Facebook and its data scandals in the past. He added that this digital currency would allow the social media platform to accumulate masses of private data once again again.