Vice-chancellor and Germany's finance minister, Olaf Scholz, says ‘No’ to Facebook, ‘Yes!” to digital currency.
"Such a payment system would be good for financial center Europe and its integration into the world financial system," Scholz stated in a local published business news magazine, WiWo.
"We should not leave the field to China, Russia, the US or any private providers," Scholz said directing his comment at Facebook’s Libra Coin.
Germany recently passed a blockchain strategy preventing parallel currencies to be issued, just three weeks ago. Scholz stated, “A core element of state sovereignty is the issuing of a currency, we will not leave this task to private companies.”
“We cannot accept a parallel currency,” Scholz said during a panel discussion in Berlin. “You have to reject that clearly.” The German cabinet is expected to adopt a comprehensive blockchain strategy on Wednesday which aims to boost the digital transformation of its economy but also tackle the risks stemming from such new technologies.In its blockchain strategy, Berlin says it will liaise closely with its European and international allies to prevent stablecoins from becoming alternative currencies, according to a government document seen by Reuters. “The Federal Government will work at European and international level to ensure that stablecoins will not become an alternative to official currencies,” the document said.” Source
Some argue Libra would be “Frankly a dangerous precedent” to shut down.
Andreessen Horowitz partner Katie Haun, former Ex-federal prosecutor has contended the United States blocking Facebook’s Libra Coin will certainly come with national security implications. If you’re not familiar with Katie Haun, you should be. On October 6th, CNBC broke her down pretty well.
In my words, she’s the successful, intelligent, bombshell that went from DoJ to Btc and she’s taking the crypto world by storm.
Katie is the first female general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and co-heads its $350 million cryptocurrency fund.
She and the firm have been a driving force alongside Facebook to launch its libra cryptocurrency.
Katie was a U.S. Department of Justice prosecutor, investigating prison gangs, corrupt officials and the mafia. Her assignment was to “take down bitcoin.”
Katie reflects; “They said ‘we have this perfect assignment for you’ — there’s this thing called bitcoin and we need to investigate it,” she says. “That was the first time I’d ever heard of bitcoin.”
Katie is now one of the most recognizable investors in the industry, Ben Horowitz calls her, “the credible face of crypto.”
CoinTelegraph reports, “the social media titan’s project was facing “the same criticisms” and misperceptions that the asset class faces more broadly.
“They were just heightened and they got more attention because of the high-profile nature of the project and the fact that Facebook was involved. I think it would be a really dangerous thing, and frankly a dangerous precedent to start shutting down technology before it’s built.”
“Haun underscored her perspective that there are national security implications if the United States falls behind in terms of cryptocurrency development, pointing to plans to launch competitors to Libra by states such as China and Russia.” Source.
Conclusion.
Facebook and their Stablecoin relationship woes continue. PalPal officially pulled out Oct. 4th and Mastercard is rumoring to follow suit.
Do you think CaLibra will end up being a wallet for other digital assets?
I don’t have the answers, but it’s exciting to watch, as Facebook ranked No. 76 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue.
What they do with their platform can potentially change the course of banking history.
Need To Know More About Stablecoins?
I’ve written a lot about them… read more on Medium or Hacker Noon.
I’d love to professionally discuss, collaborate and connect with you all. Would love any feedback, positive and negative; as I’m only here to improve and educate myself/others.