Soon after the Facebook unveiled its cryptocurrency project today, European officials quickly called for scrutiny of the plan, raising concerns over whether the project was sufficiently regulated.
According the reports by Bloomberg, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Facebook’s cryptocurrency, called Libra, must not become a sovereign currency.
Le Maire reportedly called for G7 banking officials to issue a report on Facebook’s plan next month.
A German member of the European Parliament expressed similar concerns, according to Bloomberg, saying Facebook was at risk of becoming a shadow bank and that companies must not be allowed to operate in a regulatory nirvana when introducing virtual currencies.
Facebook is positioning Libra as a financial system closely tied to the company’s services, including WhatsApp and Messenger. A nonprofit has been set up to oversee Libra, which Facebook says will launch in 2020. Several big names in tech and banking have also signed on to the project, including Mastercard, Visa, Spotify, Uber, and Lyft.
