Facebook cryptocurrency Libra to launch as early as January but scaled back
- by Johnnie Parks
- in Money
- — Nov 27, 2020
Facebook's cryptocurrency Libra, announced in June a year ago and then delayed after running into a seemingly endless set of obstacles, might finally launch as early as January 2021.
And now the Financial Times has reported that Libra could launch as early as January, with the newspaper citing three unidentified people involved in the project as its source.
U.S Congress expressed malice toward Facebook and its Libra project. The application filed differs considerably from the project originally submitted (see link), e.g. with a view to the Libra payment system also supporting single-currency stable coins as well as the multi-currency Libra payment token. The social media giant announced that the ambitious project will be governed and controlled by a group of members called Libra Association, which Facebook is also a part of.
More news: Unknown source attacks oil tanker near Saudi ArabiaThis followed concerns from regulators over this plan for a "digital composite" of all its coins; thus, the association will initially be launching a single coin backed by the dollar.
Earlier this week, The Libra Association introduced Saumya Bhavsar as the new general counsel of Libra Networks.
At the initial stage of the launch, Libra will be pegged to the United States dollars alone, with more fiat currencies to be added later.
More news: Joint Russian-US crew blasts off to International Space StationNow, the FT reports, the company plans to launch a US dollar-pegged stablecoin, and roll the other currencies at a later point. However, yesterday, the cryptocurrency, along with others, saw a sharp decline in value. The original Libra token (LBR) will now be backed by a basket of other stablecoin like Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC). This difference in the concept of the coin will help Libra avoid the volatility which plagues all the regular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
The launch date of the limited version is not yet concrete as the Libra Association is still awaiting approval by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) to operate as a payments service - with the go-ahead expected in January.
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