cryptocurrency

Swiss president says Facebook’s digital currency Libra has failed – Business Insider


  • Libra, the Facebook-led digital currency, is in trouble according to Switzerland’s president and finance minister Ueli Maurer.
  • “Central banks will not accept the basket of currencies underpinning it,” Maurer told Swiss broadcaster SRF. Libra has ‘thus failed,’ Maurer said. 
  • Libra’s current form is intended to be backed by a reserve of assets such as bank deposits and government debt, held by a network of custodians, so that it would avoid the price swings that make other cryptocurrencies so volatile. 
  • But plans for the digital currency have raised concerns among regulators, prompting Facebook executives like Libra co-creator David Marcus to anticipate delays in the planned launch date of the currency in June. 
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Facebook’s Libra project has failed in its current form and needs reworking to be approved, said the president of Switzerland where the cryptocurrency is seeking regulatory consent.

“I don’t think (Libra has a chance in its current form), because central banks will not accept the basket of currencies underpinning it,” Ueli Maurer, who is Switzerland’s finance minister and outgoing president, told Swiss broadcaster SRF.

“The project, in this form, has thus failed,” he added in an interview.

Libra did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Plans for the Facebook-led digital currency, which is to be issued and governed by the Geneva-based Libra Association, have raised concerns among regulators and politicians ranging from privacy to its potential to influence monetary policy and change the global financial landscape.

Officials running the project, including co-creator David Marcus of Facebook, have said regulatory hurdles could see the launch delayed beyond the planned June date.

The cryptocurrency is to be backed by a reserve of assets such as bank deposits and government debt held by a network of custodians. That structure is meant to foster trust and avoid the price swings that plague other cryptocurrencies.



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