According to report published by the Swiss network SRF, the future prospects of Facebook’s own digital currency Libra has been blown off by the Swiss president and finance minister who has said that the crypto currency has "failed in its current form."
Ueli Maurer, who is in his final days in the rotating presidency of the Swiss Confederation, Switzerland's federal council, told SRF that "the central banks are not going to accept the basket of currencies" that Libra is supposed to be based on.
The unveiling of the high-profile Libra project was made by Facebook in the middle of the current year and it was announced that the potential launch of the crypto currency will be held in 2020. However the project has faced severe criticism for months from regulators in several countries of the world.
The project is backed by a number of companies and non-profit groups and the crypto currency is scheduled to be managed by a Geneva-based independent association.
However, following the criticism of the project by some governments and financial regulators across the world, a number of the big backing companies of the Libra project such as the payments companies Visa and Mastercard, the online payment companies PayPal and Stripe, and a few others have left the project.
The regulators, specifically the financial regulators of the United States, are particularly concerned about the possibility of the illicit use of the crypto currency. Facebook, which has been under pressure because of a number of privacy and data protection issues in recent times, has also been battered by the criticisms of Libra.
Concerns about a blow to their sovereignty have also been raised by governments and central banks of a number of countries which are currently the sole entities with legal rights to print and circulate currencies.
His concerns about the project were openly expressed by the French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire in October who said: "Libra is not welcome on European soil."
"We will take steps with the Italians and Germans, because our sovereignty is at stake," he said while talking to reporters on the sidelines of the fall meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Concerns about Libra were also raised by a US Federal Reserve official earlier this month. "Without requisite safeguards, stablecoin networks at global scale may put consumers at risk," Fed Governor Lael Brainard said in a speech in Frankfurt. He added that instances of fraud and theft have caused "staggering" losses for crypto currencies to date.
According to Facebook, the primary aim of launching Libra is to enable users of Facebook-owned messaging platform Whatsapp to easily and instantly transfer money to friends or family.
However, while expressing his "serious concerns" about Libra, the Fed chairman Jerome Powell told US lawmakers in July that Facebook will attain the power to disrupt the global financial system because of the sheer size of the social media platform with 2.2. billion regular users worldwide – which also include Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. That will made it difficult for the regulators and central banks to manage economies and financial markets, Powell had said.
There has been no comment available from Facebook or the managers of Libra over the comments of the Swiss minister,
(Source:www.ndtv.com)
Ueli Maurer, who is in his final days in the rotating presidency of the Swiss Confederation, Switzerland's federal council, told SRF that "the central banks are not going to accept the basket of currencies" that Libra is supposed to be based on.
The unveiling of the high-profile Libra project was made by Facebook in the middle of the current year and it was announced that the potential launch of the crypto currency will be held in 2020. However the project has faced severe criticism for months from regulators in several countries of the world.
The project is backed by a number of companies and non-profit groups and the crypto currency is scheduled to be managed by a Geneva-based independent association.
However, following the criticism of the project by some governments and financial regulators across the world, a number of the big backing companies of the Libra project such as the payments companies Visa and Mastercard, the online payment companies PayPal and Stripe, and a few others have left the project.
The regulators, specifically the financial regulators of the United States, are particularly concerned about the possibility of the illicit use of the crypto currency. Facebook, which has been under pressure because of a number of privacy and data protection issues in recent times, has also been battered by the criticisms of Libra.
Concerns about a blow to their sovereignty have also been raised by governments and central banks of a number of countries which are currently the sole entities with legal rights to print and circulate currencies.
His concerns about the project were openly expressed by the French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire in October who said: "Libra is not welcome on European soil."
"We will take steps with the Italians and Germans, because our sovereignty is at stake," he said while talking to reporters on the sidelines of the fall meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Concerns about Libra were also raised by a US Federal Reserve official earlier this month. "Without requisite safeguards, stablecoin networks at global scale may put consumers at risk," Fed Governor Lael Brainard said in a speech in Frankfurt. He added that instances of fraud and theft have caused "staggering" losses for crypto currencies to date.
According to Facebook, the primary aim of launching Libra is to enable users of Facebook-owned messaging platform Whatsapp to easily and instantly transfer money to friends or family.
However, while expressing his "serious concerns" about Libra, the Fed chairman Jerome Powell told US lawmakers in July that Facebook will attain the power to disrupt the global financial system because of the sheer size of the social media platform with 2.2. billion regular users worldwide – which also include Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. That will made it difficult for the regulators and central banks to manage economies and financial markets, Powell had said.
There has been no comment available from Facebook or the managers of Libra over the comments of the Swiss minister,
(Source:www.ndtv.com)
Homepage
Send to a friend
Printable version
Share
