The financial authorities of Australia, England and the United States have already spoken about the recent launch of Libra, the cryptocurrency announced by Facebook. Their positions go through skepticism until a certain opening.
Both the Central Bank of Australia and the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve of the United States have so far positions with respect to the plans of the company Facebook Inc. and the newly created Libra Association, which will manage the operation of the network on which the cryptocurrency will be based.
For Philip Lowe, head of the Central Bank of Australia, there is still a long way to go before the cryptocurrency proposed by Facebook becomes a mass-use asset. Quoted by Bloomberg, Lowe said that Libra could be "very far", when questioned about the implications of the proposal of Facebook in Australian territory.
"There are many regulatory issues that need to be addressed and they must ensure that there is a solid business case, so we must be careful before jumping to conclusions," Lowe said Thursday. His position so far has been rejection of cryptocurrencies.
For his part, Jerome Powell, president of the US Federal Reserve, considered that not only Libra but all cryptocurrencies are just "in their infancy". When approached during a press conference on Wednesday on the possible formulation of monetary policies around cryptocurrencies, Powell said simply: "We are very far from that."
For the Bank of England, his boss, Mark Carney, had already demonstrated on Tuesday. Of the three executives, Carney has shown the most open stance towards Libra. In fact, according to a report by the Financial Times, the English official said he had an "open mind" regarding the usefulness of the Facebook cryptocurrency.
However, Carney assured that the institution he leads will follow "very closely" the company's plans regarding the launch of its cryptocurrency. Especially, he expressed concern about how Facebook could make sure to prevent money laundering and ensure the privacy of its users.
Reactions in the cryptocurrency ecosystem
Not only authorities from different countries have spoken about Libra. The announcement has also impacted the cryptocurrency ecosystem itself, whose personalities have also referred to Libra.
For example, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), CEO of the Binance exchange house, satirized the privacy of future Libra users.«They know you more than you do. And now to your purse too. The best against money laundering», he said.
Udi Wertheimer, developer of Bitcoin, discussed about Calibra, the purse that will be released next year for the management of Libra. This, he said through Twitter, will be "totally owned by Facebook", not by its users.
Recall that this Tuesday, June 18, the company that owns social networks such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram made official its plans to create a cryptocurrency. That story had been assembled through rumors and leaks of information during the past months.