The announcement about the launch of Libra led to discussions about the lack of uniform regulation in the cryptocurrency market
The United States House Committee on Financial Services will hold an audience on July 17th about Facebook’s cryptocurrency, Libra. The meeting will take place since US lawmakers request the technology giant Facebook to give more details about its cryptocurrency.
Representatives of governments such as Russia, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom have been “concerned” because of the large amount of information that Facebook has about its users, and because the company can handle user passwords as well as malicious people can commit hacking.
A few days ago, these reasons led both US lawmakers and Congresswoman Maxine Waters to ask Facebook to stop the project until it was presented in Congress to clarify these points and give regulators the opportunity to examine the proposal.
“Given the company’s troubled past, I am requesting that Facebook agree to moratorium on any movement forward on developing a cryptocurrency until Congress and regulators have the opportunity to examine these issues and take action”, Waters said a few days ago. Now, the official was in charge of giving the announcement about the audience that will take place in a few weeks.
Lack of Regulation
The announcement about the launch of Libra led to discussions about the lack of uniform regulation in the cryptocurrency market. According to Waters, regulators should consider Facebook’s plans for Libra as “a wake-up call to get serious about the privacy and national security concerns, cyber-security risks, and trading risks that are posed by cryptocurrencies”.
France is one of the countries that direct the efforts to create an international working group that has the mission to work in the regulation of cryptocurrencies through central banks. Until now, the working group will be a G7 committee that will operate under the direction of Benoit Coeure, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank.
Precisely, the Vice-President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Luis Guindos, warned a few days ago that the cryptocurrency of Facebook must comply with all regulatory conditions; both confidentiality and money laundering. However, he also stressed that if the instrument will be created only to facilitate payments to consumers, it is “positive” and then the ECB “will not have much to say”.
Authorities Consider Libra a “Threat”
On the other hand, José María Roldán, President of the Spanish Association of Banking (AEB), believes that Libra will not be a threat to Spanish banks, but rather to regulatory authorities, as it will be linked to online payments and no to more traditional transactions.
The Senate Banking Committee seeks to know more details about Libra. It will discuss this point during a session next July 16th called “Examining Facebook’s Proposed Digital Currency and Data Privacy Considerations”.
Reportedly, France is against Libra operating as a sovereign currency and is concerned about how to enforce regulations, as in the case of anti-money laundering laws.
By María Victoria Rodríguez
