Libra Hasn’t Abandoned Multi-Currency Stablecoin: Policy Director

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8 July 2020

A Libra executive has confirmed the project has not lost sight of its original ambition to launch a multi-currency stablecoin.

  • Speaking at the Global Digital Finance virtual summit Wednesday, Libra Director of Policy Julien Le Goc said the Facebook-backed entity was still looking at its original plan: "We’ve not abandoned the multi-currency stablecoin, drawing its DNA from the [International Monetary Fund's] special drawing fund, which remains an important design feature."
  • Libra's original vision in 2019 had been to release one multi-currency stablecoin backed by a basket of up to 30 fiat currencies.
  • This was hit with resistance from government officials who were concerned about a private entity challenging their monetary sovereignty.
  • In an updated white paper earlier this year, Libra appeared to scale back its ambitions and said it would first create a series of single-currency stablecoins instead.
  • A multi-currency asset was still on the cards, the white paper read, but it would be backed by single-asset stablecoins, with the weighting reviewed and changed over time.
  • Le Goc confirmed Libra still wants to become a borderless payment method for the world's unbanked.
  • He said the Swiss-based association was also creating a new regulatory compliance framework in an "ongoing dialogue" with central bankers.
  • He added that Libra was also exploring ways it could make its governance structure closer to a public-private partnership with national governments.

See also: Libra Is Ready for the Digital Money ‘Space Race’: Dante Disparte