CryptoRocket Science

Facebook’s Libra Already Facing Opposition From Europe and U.S.

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Remember what we talked about Facebook not being trusted with a product that is set to shake up the entire banking system?

Well, it seems that some people do not like the idea of Zuckerberg being in charge of such a potentially big enterprise. Libra and all the details entailing to it were just revealed yesterday and powerful officials from Europe and the US Congress have aired their concerns over Facebook’s plans which clearly oppose the digital currency’s development.

The plan to roll out the currency next year is one that may seem too ambitious by some to a point of getting the French Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, absolutely opposing the idea of Libra being an independent currency.

Speaking to Europe 1 Radio, He added on to say that Libra should never be seen as a replacement for traditional currencies. He then went on to call on the Group of Seven (G7) central bank governors who happen to be the guardians of the global monetary system to have a report on the cryptocurrency’s development ready for their July meeting.

Now, this may seem like a one-man opinion who clearly wants to avoid Facebook from claiming any more power than what they already have but his sentiments were also reiterated at the European’s central bank annual symposium by Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, supporting the idea of the currency being regulated.

“Anything that works in this world will become instantly systemic and will have to be subject to the highest standards of regulation,” he said.

If you think the two are the only ones with this idea, we are not done.

The U.S. government has even moved a step further with the House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman, Maxine Waters, issuing a statement calling on Facebook to pause on development of the cryptocurrency until the Congress and other regulatory agencies have had a chance to review it.

…with that kind of reputation, privacy issues will later come to haunt this product…

According to Waters, Facebook has shown no concern for safeguarding its users’ data privacy and with that kind of reputation, privacy issues will later come to haunt this product that is yet to be released.

The scrutiny goes a long way to show how much little trust the social network still has not only to the general public but also to the political and administrative officials with the plan raising a question of how much power will be bestowed to one company before everything goes completely haywire.

This is even despite the company trying their best to convince us that Calibra, the digital wallet for the new monetary format, will be set to share only limited data with Facebook and have “strong protections” such as automated fraud checks – This clearly did not convince the likes of Maxine Waters enough.

This may make you wonder why technologies like Bitcoin are not getting such attention and opposition considering the numbers they have the same claim ever since its launch 10 years ago, but you should then remember that Bitcoin is not widely used. Libra is set to be used in some of the most basic and widely used apps, WhatsApp and Messenger.

So, are the officials on the right path to raise these concerns and place the pressure on Facebook in a bid to ensure scandals like the Cambridge Analytica case don’t blow up again in our faces and in this case with money? Or should we get to a place where we trust Zuckerberg’s word that the company is on a road to redemption?

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2 Comments

  1. […] recently announced financial service is already facing some tides. First, officials from Europe and the U.S. say that the social media giant cannot be trusted with people’s finances since they have […]

  2. […] network worldwide announced that it’s turning to financial services now, the company was first accused of not being trustworthy when it comes to dealing with people finances, as it couldn’t deal with […]

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