Facebook’s Libra to reportedly launch in January 2021 as USD stablecoin

The long-awaited digital currency Libra could finally see the light of day as soon as January 2021, according to a new report.

Following more than a year of scrutiny from global financial regulators, Libra will launch in the form of a U.S. dollar-backed digital currency, the Financial Times reported on Nov. 27.

Citing three people involved in the Libra project, the Financial Times wrote that the Libra Association plans will eventually add more fiat currencies to the basket of assets that back Libra’s value.

Expected in January, the exact launch date is still not known and would depend on when the Libra Association receives regulatory approval by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, or FINMA, to operate as a payments service. 

A spokesperson at the FINMA declined to comment to Cointelegraph regarding Libra’s potential launch in January 2021. The representative referred to an announcement on Libra’s licensing process, stating, “In accordance with its usual practice, FINMA will neither provide public information on the status of the ongoing procedure nor speculate on when it may be complete.”

The Libra Association did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for further information.

Initiated in June 2019, the Libra Association faced major regulatory scrutiny causing a number of member companies like PayPal and MasterCard to subsequently leave the project. The basket of currencies backing LIbra was originally to include several fiat currencies including the U.S. dollar, euro, the Japanese yen, the British pound and the Singapore dollar.

According to the Financial Times, several Libra members believe that the appointment of HSBC legal chief Stuart Levey as chief executive was a turning point for the Libra project.