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28/11/2020

Facebook Could Launch Its Libra Crypto Currency As Early As January: FT




Facebook is getting all ready to launch its crypto currency Libra as soon as January next year, according to a report published in the Financial Times on Friday based on unidentified sources who are directly associated with the project.
 
One of the sources in the news report was quoted by FT as saying that the launch of a single digital coin backed by the dollar is being planned by the Geneva based Libra Association that has the responsibility of issuing and governing the Libra.
 
The report also noted that the latest move, if actually implemented, would mark an even larger scale back of the initial ambitions that had been set for the project as they were   proposed by Facebook and the crypto currencies backers in last year and in April as a response to multiple criticisms of the project by regulators and political leaders.
 
Following concerns raised by regulators and central banks all across the world about the Libra could potentially causing an upset to the financial stability as well as erode mainstream power over money,  a much scaled back and slimmed down form of the crypto currency was re-launched by the social media giant this year after the first announcement of the project last year.
 
There are 27 members in the Libra Association which includes Facebook, and this body is awaiting a green signal form the markets watchdog of Switzerland for issuing a a series of stablecoins that will be supported by individual traditional currencies a as well as a token which would be based on the currency-pegged stablecoins.
 
Despite this, the new plans of the body include introduction at a later stage of other coins that are backed by traditional currencies, as well as the composite, the FT report said.
 
The FT report did not carry any comments on the issue for the Libra Association as well as the FINMA, the Swiss regulator, except for pointing out to its statement that it had issued back in April which simply confirmed the receiving of an application for a payments licence for Libra.
 
The designing of stablecoins is such that it helps in avoiding the otherwise seen volatility that is experienced typically of other crypto currencies such as bitcoin. That, at least in theory, makes stablecoins more suitable for payments and money transfers.
 
(Source:www.business-standard.com)

Christopher J. Mitchell
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