The story of Facebook’s Libra and Mark Zuckerberg’s “relationship” with the US Congress has reached new levels. The much awaited cryptocurrency called Libra might not be launched after all in 2019, as Facebook cannot get the approval of regulatory bodies yet.
The European Union also expressed great concerns over the launch of such a global “payments system”. However, the EU is now thinking of introducing its own virtual coin that might rival the upcoming Facebook’s coin.
The information comes from The Independent. The European Central Bank has urged the entire EU to figure out how to regulate cryptocurrencies and come up with a consistent approach to be implemented across all digital coins. Up until now, there is no one single EU law that regulates cryptocurrencies. Certain EU countries have taken the initiative to come up with their own rules and regulate virtual currencies according to these internal laws.
This statement, as reported by Reuters and The Independent, points out that the EU may be thinking of introducing its own coin:
The ECB and other EU central banks could usefully explore the opportunities as well as challenges of issuing central bank digital currencies including by considering concrete steps to this effects.
This statement comes from a draft report from the EU Central Bank. The report may be discussed by finance ministers at the end of this week, and adoption can happen any time next month.