Facebook’s much-awaited cryptocurrency Libra made the entire world to sit down, and take notice. Well, it doesn’t happen every day that a social networking company with over a 2 billion strong user base launches its own currency.
Soon after Libra’s launch, regulators globally, and more so from the United States, lashed out at Facebook, accusing that the move challenges the prevailing monetary system. Especially, the US House of Representatives has been against it and has even demanded a complete ban on Facebook’s Libra project. Following the US Congress, regulators and lawmakers globally have criticized Facebook’s move, latest in the list being Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom.
Advertisement
David Marcus, Facebook’s Project Head of Libra, has discarded the accusations as being mere misunderstandings. In a recent post on Facebook, Marcus stated that Facebook alone is not behind the stablecoin, and about 28 founding partners, including kingpins like VISA, MasterCard, Uber, and PayPal, are backing it. Till its public launch in early 2020, the Libra Foundation will bring about 100 founding partners on board. He further added,
We made the deliberate decision to announce the plans for Libra early. This was after an initial consultative phase with regulators, central banks, and other organizations from all around the world. Our rationale was simple: We wanted to encourage open discussion by design. Launching a high-quality medium of exchange in the form of a cryptocurrency, and its supporting infrastructure, cannot happen in darkness.
Marcus added that though Libra Foundation is built to be an open platform, it is not as decentralized as Bitcoin. According to him, the total decentralization was not adopted as “it was important to start with trusted entities that could operate in a regulated environment and with the operational expertise required to ensure the integrity of the network in its foundational stage.”
Advertisement
After the US Congress has decided to investigate the project, it would require questioning personnel behind Libra to have a better understanding about the cryptocurrency. Marcus, therefore, has promised to testify before the Senate.
