Getting people on board to support Libra has not been an easy task for Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook. Regulators in the U.S. and Europe have made this task even harder by blocking the project in the only way they know how, pressuring other companies in the finance and e-commerce sector who had already expressed their willingness to work with Facebook, in an attempt to either make them drop their support towards Libra or face the consequences. This has caused for Facebook to lose the support of Visa, PayPal, eBay and others in a matter of weeks.
It now seems Zuckerberg is being cautious and is looking to guarantee that the company will not launch its stablecoin until it gets approval from all corresponding regulators. According to his prepared remarks, the CEO plans on addressing the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, assuring that the regulatory concerns are being taken very seriously claiming:
Facebook will not be part of launching the Libra payments system anywhere in the world until US regulators approve.
However, this does not mean that Facebook has given up on the idea. As further detailed in the document, Zuckerberg claims that money should be able to be moved as simply as sending a text. With more than a billion people around the world who don’t have access to a bank account, but could through mobile phones if the right system existed; Facebook is simply looking to provide an improved system capable of providing people of a basic service like sending and receiving money easily and without costing too much.
It appears the CEO is attempting to explain how Facebook will be separated from the decision-making process when it comes to Libra, and the role the Libra Association will play to ensure the project is led in the best possible way. Another major concern governments have expressed towards the Libra coin is that it could easily become a replacement of sovereign currency to which Zuckerberg claims that Libra is simply an online payment system, it’s a way for people to transfer money.
Monetary policy is the province of central banks, not Libra. The Libra Association has no intention of competing with any sovereign currencies or entering the monetary policy arena. It will work with the Federal Reserve and other central banks responsible for monetary policy to make sure that is the case.
The hearing is expected to take place today at 10:00 am EST, and you can watch here.
