Crypto was attacked from various angles this week including President Donald Trump, the Federal Reserve, France’s Finance Minister and the one and only – Mark Cuban!
Bitcoin and Libra chastised by President Donald Trump
Facebook’s Libra project, announced only last month, is on a mission to serve the unbanked and facilitate low-fee money transfers globally. But the project, which is planned to launch in 2020 – the year of the US Presidential elections, has come under intense scrutiny this week.
‘I am not a fan of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are not money and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air,’ US President Donald Trump publicly Tweeted this week.
President Trump also had something to say about Facebook’s Libra project.
‘If Facebook and other companies want to become a bank, they must seek a new Banking Charter and become subject to all Banking Regulations, just like other banks, both national and international,’ he added.
Libra under the Fed microscope
President Trump’s comments about Libra follow a stark warning from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who implored lawmakers not to allow Facebook’s plan to proceed any further until data privacy, consumer protection, money laundering and financial stability concerns are all fully addressed – so next week the U.S. House and Senate Committee are expected to hold hearings examining these concerns!
The Federal Reserve will also set up an oversight committee that will coordinate with other central banks to follow up on Facebook’s Libra project.
No banks are currently part of the Libra project although it should be noted that one of the largest banks by assets, JP Morgan Chase, is working on launching its own digital coin.
Now that big blue chip companies are embracing crypto, will governments step up the heat to eradicate them?
France attacks Libra
Earlier this week the finance minister of France Bruno Le Maire told Bloomberg News that Facebook’s Libra ‘can’t and…must not happen’ and that ‘it is out of question’ for the cryptocurrency to ‘become a sovereign currency’ he declared!
Bruno Le Maire has reportedly called on the Group of Seven (G-7) to review the Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency and apparently Markus Ferber, a German member of the European Parliament, has warned that Facebook could become a ‘shadow bank’ – and warned regulators to be extremely vigilant.
Mark Cuban steps up the heat!
Back in the tank, the outspoken Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, on an interview with CNBC’s Deirde Bosa on Friday, warned that Facebook’s Libra project is a ‘big mistake’, citing concerns about the cryptocurrency’s implications in countries ‘where there is no rule of law or currency stability’.
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