Facebook had to review its Libra project. Its ambitious plan to create a new cryptocurrency has faced severe criticism from world’s leading financial regulators. The world seems to be unprepared to welcome such a strong single currency which Libra could have become. However, the founders of the social media company are not ready to completely give up the project. Thus, Facebook has already announced its intention to release several stablecoins which will be linked to major national currencies, such as the greenback, the euro, the pound sterling, and the Singapore dollar. “Each single-currency stablecoin will be fully backed by the Reserve, which will consist of cash or cash equivalents and very short-term government securities denominated in that currency. We hope to work with regulators, central banks, and financial institutions around the world,” said Dante Disparte, the head of policy and communications for the Libra Association.
The Libra project has sparked great interest across the globe. However, from the point of view of financial regulators, Libra could pose a serious threat to national sovereignty of entire countries. Apart from that, the new digital currency could compete with Bitcoin. According to John Waz from the Australian National University, BTC is inferior to Facebook’s payment system due to the problems with scalability and a speculative component. Remarkably, the Libra project will not be completely closed. Most likely, Facebook will return to the idea of launching a single cryptocurrency in the future.
