French government blocks Libra development

First, it was the FATF and now the French government is after Facebook’s digital currency; Libra. In a shocking turn of events; Libra now faces further heat. French Minister of the Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire said that Libra threatens “monetary sovereignty” of governments globally.

“I want to be absolutely clear: in these conditions, we cannot authorize the development of Libra on European soil,” said Le Maire, as reported by AFP on Thursday. 

Bruno Le Maire claimed that the country will halt the development of Facebook’s Libra. He was effervescent in the mention of “European Soil”. Guess the Europeans have learnt their lessons from Cambridge Analytica scandal. 

What happened at the Global Blockchain Policy Forum in Paris?

Bruno Le Maire was one of the invitees at the opening of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Blockchain Policy Forum 2019 in Paris, France. Several other European leaders had gathered too. Bruno Le Maire had passed similar comments in June as well where he had quoted that Libra “can’t and…must not happen” and that “it is out of the question’’ for the proposed stablecoin to “become a sovereign currency.” 

What’s next for Libra and the French Government?

It may be noted that France cannot block the development of Libra as it is based out of Switzerland as an association. That notwithstanding, France can do the following: 

• Block Apps supporting Libra
• Prevent merchants from accepting Libra as a form of payment
• Make Libra impractical to use

Development around Libra until now

In less than a quarter; Libra has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Following notables developments and concerns have taken place around Libra in the last quarter:

• Paris based FATF has advised the governments globally of bringing Libra and other cryptocurrencies under total oversight. 
• French government has proposed blocking the development of Libra in France and other parts of Europe
• US treasury wants to bring Libra under a strict regulation
• Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) said the project would fall under financial market infrastructure regulation
• Governments globally want to ensure Libra is subject to additional regulatory requirements
• The Libra Association is looking to get a payment system license from FINMA to “empower billions of people.”