A member of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors has said that Facebook's Libra could pose risks to consumers due to a lack of clarity over their rights with respect to the token’s underlying assets and to the system overall. Lael Brainard — who chairs several Fed committees — outlined her critique of Libra during a speech delivered at The Future of Money in the Digital Age forum in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 16. Consumer rights remain opaque Brainard took stock of a number of existing payments networks on digital platforms, such as Alibaba and WeChat, noting that by some …

The Swiss Federal Council is continuing to keep close tabs on global stablecoin projects and their possible opportunities and challenges. Switzerland is seen as very crypto-friendly In a news release on Oct. 16, the Swiss Federal Council stated that it was recently informed about “current opportunities and challenges associated with stablecoins” and that Switzerland will continue to monitor new digital technology developments, such as blockchain and distributed ledger technology. The Federal Council states that, while the mountainous European country is generally seen as very crypto-friendly and “open to innovative approaches in the financial market,” it remains committed to addressing the …

⁠David Marcus, the head of Facebook’s forthcoming cryptocurrency wallet Calibra, said that he is a fan of Bitcoin (BTC) but it is totally different to the proposed Libra stablecoin. Bitcoin is digital gold, Marcus says In a Squawk Box interview on Oct. 16, Marcus stated that he has been looking at Bitcoin since 2012 and considers it to be akin to digital gold. When asked by Squawk Box co-host Joe Kernen if he owns any Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, Marcus did not answer directly but noted that he was an early fan of the major cryptocurrency. He said: “I’m a …

The head of Facebook's Calibra has claimed that the recent withdrawal of the seven companies from the Libra Association has no impact on the project. Dropouts will still be able to work with Libra In an interview with Yahoo Finance on Oct. 15, Calibra’s David Marcus argued that Facebook’s cryptocurrency project is “absolutely not” in jeopardy after PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, eBay, Mercado Pago and Booking quit the Libra Association. Marcus emphasized that companies outside the formal association will still be able to offer services on the platform: “One thing that is not well understood is that you don’t need …

Analysts at RBC Capital Markets have suggested that stifling Facebook’s Libra may leave the field open to China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) to dominate in emerging economies. China shifts development of digital currency in extra gear On Oct. 15, financial news outlet Markets Insider reported that RBC analysts believe that once Facebook announced its Libra stablecoin plans, China shifted development of its own yuan-backed CBDC into the next gear. RBC wrote to clients: "If US regulators ultimately dismiss Libra and decide not to draft regulations to encourage crypto innovation in the US, China's CBDC may be strategically positioned to …

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has defended Facebook’s choice to create a new currency. Canadian news outlet TheStar reported Carney’s remarks on Oct. 15, noting that he highlighted the shortcomings of the current traditional financial system. Because of the inefficiency of the payments, Carey thinks that firms such as Facebook should be involved in projects like Libra. The current payments industry is lacking More precisely, he reportedly criticized the high costs of moving money, saying that they penalize small businesses and can cost firms as much as 200 basis points per transaction, besides being processed too slowly. According to …

United States Rep. Warren Davidson has said that Facebook adding Bitcoin (BTC) to its Calibra wallet would be a “way better idea” than creating its new currency Libra. In an interview for the Noded Bitcoin podcast on Oct. 11, the Republican said that “part of the beauty” of Facebook’s unveiling its proposed Libra stablecoin is that it crystallized all of the problems that already exist on the social media platform today. “Do we want filtered transactions or freedom?” Davidson argued that the congressional hearings devoted to Libra this July had compounded the intense pressure Facebook is already under, noting that …

The head of Sweden’s Riksbank has characterized Facebook’s Libra project as “an incredibly important catalytic event” that is spurring the world’s central banks to ready themselves for digital transformation. In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe on Oct. 15, Riksbank Governor Stefan Ingves said: “It has been an incredibly important catalytic event to sort of shake the tree when Libra showed up out of the blue, and that forced us to think hard about what we do.” Private vs. public, not digital vs. physical Speaking as the head of the central bank in a country where the cashless revolution …

The Libra Association, the governing body of Facebook’s proposed stablecoin, held its inaugural meeting today in Geneva, Switzerland. According to a report from Reuters on Oct. 14, the consortium reaffirmed their interest in creating a payments-oriented stablecoin that would be balanced by a basket of various, purportedly stable fiat currencies. Libra Association sets rules for governance In addition to explicitly stating their interest in the project, the consortium’s 21 members also formed a five-member board and agreed to interim articles of association which, according to Swiss law, must describe how the organization will be governed. Most major decisions will reportedly …

Leading online travel company Booking Holdings has ditched the Libra Association, the governing consortium of Facebook’s proposed Libra stablecoin. Booking Holdings has thus become the latest in an array of companies that abandoned the project, leaving it with 21 founding members out of the initial 28 organizations, Bloomberg reported on Oct. 14. A promising start Booking Holdings — which stands behind travel sites booking.com, priceline.com, agoda.com and Kayak, among others — became a founding member of the Libra Association in June. In August, Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel said that he believes that blockchain-based currencies will continue to grow and …

United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has attributed the recent spate of firms abandoning Facebook’s Libra stablecoin project to regulatory concerns. On CNBC’s Squawk Box on Oct. 14, Mnuchin stated that companies are abandoning the Libra project because it is “not up to par” with American Anti-Money Laundering standards, saying: “If they don’t meet the standards of our money-laundering standards and the standards that we have at FinCEN, we would take enforcement actions against them. I think they realized that they are not ready, they are not up to par and I assume some of the partners got concerned and …

Coinbase CEO has criticized United States’ senators for asking Stripe, Mastercard and Visa to leave Facebook’s crypto project Libra. “Something feels very un-American about this” After U.S. Senators Brian Schatz and Sherrod Brown apparently pressured the payment giants to leave Libra, Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of major U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase, called the action “un-American” in a tweet on Oct. 13. Armstrong wrote: “Something feels very un-american about this. Two senators writing to Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe to ask them to withdraw from Libra.” Senators’ letter pushes payment giants to leave Libra On Oct. 8, senators Schatz and Brown …