Frances Bruno Le Maire said Thursday that he would try to stop the development of Facebooks new virtual currency Libra within Europe, claiming that \u201cthe monetary sovereignty of states is in jeopardy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The French finance minister has been an outspoken critic of the new financial product, which is expected to be unveiled halfway through 2020. His latest stark comments follow similar pushback from regulators across Europe, the United States and elsewhere over concerns that the digital currency could undermine the current global financial services industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot authorize the development of Libra in Europe,\u201d Le Maire told an audience in Paris.<\/p>\n
The French politician also raised concerns that Facebooks development of Libra could also give the social networking giant undue influence of how its more than two billion users worldwide used the digital currency.<\/p>\n
\u201cLibra would substitute itself for national currencies,\u201d he added. \u201cThe privatization of currencies raises the rise of abuse of a dominant position, it raises sovereignty risk, it raises risks for consumers and companies.\u201d<\/p>\n