There’s big news making its way around the crypto community in reference to Facebook’s new Libra stablecoin proposal.
Earlier this year, Facebook was making waves with plans to adopt its new digital currency and take on active partners for a $10 million stake in the project.
Initially, Visa and MasterCard seems to be big fans of the idea, clamoring to sign on, along with new payment companies like Stripe and other innovators like Uber.
Now, according to Cointelegraph coverage today, Visa and Mastercard are not so sure.
“Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Stripe are unsure whether they wish to become paid-up participants in Facebook’s Libra digital currency,” writes William Suberg.
Essentially, Suberg reports these major counterparties are concerned about the extent to which regulators will sign off on the project, citing Bloomberg’s coverage, quoting as follows:
“Executives at the payments companies believe Facebook oversold the extent to which regulators were comfortable with the project and are concerned about the perception that the social network hasn’t behaved responsibly in other areas.”
That concern is not surprising, since we’ve seen a drumbeat of regulator backlash in the past few months – with legislators asking key questions about how Libra would work and suggesting that it might disrupt national economies in a negative way.
“In these conditions, we cannot authorize the development of libra on European soil,” said French finance minister Bruno Le Maire last month, according to CNBC.
Similarly, venues like the Washington Examiner have been reporting on the concerns of American officials such as Fed chair Jerome Powell since July.
Even Swiss regulators are sometimes less than ebullient about the ramifications of the Libra stablecoin, which doesn’t bode well for regulatory consensus to push the project forward.
How Visa and MasterCard continue to act in reference to Libra will be a major aspect of how the project moves forward. We’ll continue to bring news as it comes – keep an eye on this major crypto project that was supposed to be so much of a boost for digital coins in 2019 and the years to come.