Despite the Bank of England maintains a more open stance, it will follow Libra’s development very closely. The authorities consider that Libra is very far from achieving mass adoption
The financial authorities of Australia, England and the United States have already spoken about the recent launch of Libra, the cryptocurrency announced by Facebook. It was reported that their positions go from skepticism to certain openness.
Until now, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve of the United States have positions with respect to the plans of the company Facebook Inc. and the newly created Libra Association, which will manage the operation of the network on which the cryptocurrency will be based.
Philip Lowe, Head of the Reserve Bank of Australia, considers that there is still a long way to go before Facebook’s cryptocurrency becomes an asset of mass use. When Lowe was asked about the implications of the proposal of Facebook in Australian territory, he replied that Libra could be “a long way off”.
“There are a lot of regulatory issues that need to be addressed, and they’ve got to make sure there’s a solid business case, so we must be careful before jumping to conclusions,” said Lowe on Thursday June 13th. Until now, he has held a position of rejection of cryptocurrencies.
For his part, Jerome Powell, President of the Federal Reserve of the United States, considers that not only Libra, but also all other cryptocurrencies are still in their infancy. When he was approached during a press conference on Wednesday June 12th about the possible formulation of monetary policies around cryptocurrencies, Powell simply said: “We are very far from that.”
Concerning the Head of the Bank of England, Mark Joseph Carney, he had already expressed his opinion on Tuesday June 11th. Of the three executives, Carney has shown the most open stance towards Libra. In fact, the English official said that he kept an “open mind” regarding the usefulness of Facebook’s cryptocurrency.
However, Carney assured that the financial institution that he leads will follow “very closely” the social networking service company’s plans regarding the launch of its cryptocurrency. Especially, he expressed concern about how Facebook could make sure to prevent money laundering and ensure the privacy of its users.
Reactions in the Cryptocurrency Ecosystem
Not only authorities from different countries have spoken about Libra. The announcement has also impacted the cryptocurrency ecosystem itself, whose personalities have also referred to Libra.
For example, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), CEO of the Binance exchange house, satirized the privacy of future Libra users. “They know you more than yourself. And now your wallet too. The best against money laundering,” he said.
Udi Wertheimer, developer of Bitcoin, talked about Calibra, the wallet that will be released next year for Libra’s management. He said that this wallet will be “fully owned by Facebook”, not by its users.
On Tuesday, June 18th, the company that owns social networks such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram officialized its plans to create a cryptocurrency. That story had been assembled through rumors and leaks of information during the past months.
By Willmen Blanco
