- Facebook’s Libra may take several years –Ryan Selkis
- 2020 might not be Libra’s year
Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency Libra had a rough 2019, this is due to issues with regulatory bodies. The issue now is not about Facebook’s records on handling privacy. Instead, it is more of a projection of a future disaster.
Mid 2019, Facebook unveiled a plan to launch its digital coin, terming it Libra. Libra was intended to be a digital coin, according to Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, to be “banked and unbanked.” Unfortunately, the proposed currency did not get the expected reactions from people. According to the official statement released, Libra was to be supported by government assets, fiats, and deposits. It is to be independent, with no supervision from Government authority. Hence, the reason why regulatory bodies instantly opposed the project right from the get-go, which has so far delayed the launch of the project by over a year.
It’s a new year, the cryptocurrency market is six months away from halving and central bank-supported digital currencies (CBDCs) are in the standard. While Libra, the frontier of independent crypto-wave, is on standstill. It seems the delayed launch could be pushed for several years to come.
2020 Might Not be Libra’s Year
Several projections on the launch date of Libra is slated beyond 2020. According to Selkis, he spelled out that Libra seem not to have a case. He claimed that Zuckerberg, Marcus and the crew sternly “underestimated how unpopular” Libra would be.
According to Selkis, with Visa, Paypal, and Mastercard pulling out support for the proposed currency as soon as regulatory issues surfaced, Facebook must work with what is available which according to him is not substantial. Facebook’s primary aim of weighting government currencies and deposits would not work. “The Libra team’s opening salvo to run a basket-weighted international reserve is definitively not going to happen in the next several years,” he added.
Even though Libra did not put in much effort in their aim in 2019. They did spike interest in people and developers. A pursuit to develop an independent digital currency. China is currently leading the race and their acceptance of blockchain technology has been commended as “the most important cryptocurrency-related announcement of the year.”
Jens Weidmann, a European Central Bank policymaker has called on banks to create an affordable and swift mode of transferring money to contend with alternatives like Facebook’s proposed project, Libra. He further added that there is no urgency for the European Central Bank to create its digital currency.
Bitcoin (BTC) Price Today – BTC / USD
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Commenting on this, Weidmann went thus: “I’m not in favor of always immediately calling on the state to come up with solutions. In a market economy, it’s up to companies to develop products that meet customer demands.”
Max writes about blockchain projects and regulation with a special focus on United States and China. He joined Smarterum after years of writing for various media outlets.
