Steven Mnuchin, the Secretary of the US Treasury, has no issue with the launch of the Facebook-led Libra project, as long as financial rules are followed.
On December 5, it has been reported by Bloomberg that Mnuchin is ‘fine’ with Libra launch.
He said:
“I’m fine if Facebook wants to create a digital currency, but they need to be fully compliant with financial secrecy and anti-money laundering rules. In no way can this be used for terrorist financing.”
However, Mnuchin was speaking in Washington, D.C. at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee in response to a question from a lawmaker.
Since Libra was announced in June, much to the ignorance of the globe’s regulators and central banks, Mnuchin indicated that he met with Facebook a dozen times to talk over regulatory concerns. That’s slowed the pace of the payments project’s move toward launch.
Likewise, Libra will be a stablecoin for payments through Facebook platforms and other wallets and products and is likely to be pegged to a basket of national currencies and government bonds.
Bloomberg wrote that at the hearing, Mnuchin also said that the US is unlikely to develop a digital currency in the near term.
Mnuchin added:
“[Federal Reserve Chair Jerome] Powell and I have discussed this – we both agree that in the near future, in the next five years, we see no need for the Fed to issue a digital currency.”
Thus, the hearing saw questions over China‘s plans to launch a digital yuan in the near future. The European Central Bank also made comments recently that it might launch a digital currency if traditional payment methods are not improved for consumers.
Source: bloomberg.com |coindesk.com
