Financial Times: Libra Is Expected To Be Launched In January 2021
- by Joann Nelson
- in Sci-tech
- — Nov 28, 2020
Facebook Libra may be launched by January next year, according to people familiar with the matter.
It was announced today that the long-awaited and controversial Facebook digital currency, Libra, will be launched in January 2021, according to a report published by the Financial Times.
The information obtained by the publication indicates that the project will not be launched as a global currency with its own blockchain. Rather than launching as a multi-currency stablecoin, the upcoming Facebook Libra will be reportedly backed to the United States dollar, while support for other fiat currency will be introduced at a later date. The initial version of the currency anxious governments because of its global operation and linked to Mark Zuckerberg's company, which could "disturb financial stability", according to Reuters.
Libra's upcoming launch comes as bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, recently rallied above 19,000 for the first time since 2017.
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.
Many central banks and regulators have been concerned about this vision.
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In a white paper, The Libra Association took a scaled-down approach to woo its critics, saying that Libra will focus on building a payment network in which coins are tied to a variety of local currencies.
Initially, the plan was to create a single cryptocurrency backed by multiple real currencies, but it was soon met with criticism from global regulators.
Facebook continues to face regulatory pushback over Libra.
The Libra Association, the stand-alone group guiding the crypto, has been set up in Switzerland, a Fintech friendly jurisdiction, that is now reviewing Libra's proposal.
Libra Association members believed that the appointment of Stuart Levey as the first CEO and HSBC legal chief contributed to the recent decisions towards the project. For now, Libra will only be pegged to the U.S. dollar.
