Facebook Considers Multiple Digital Coins For Libra Based On National Currencies

Facebook is considering some options for its cryptocurrency Libra after criticism from regulators and politicians have mounted around the controversial project. The Facebook lead of the Libra project David Marcus said on Sunday that the company may have alternative approaches for Libra, which include multiple cryptocurrencies being used based on each country’s national currencies.

Marcus in a banking seminar, Reuters reported, said that rather than one synthetic unit, they can use a series of stablecoins, a sterling stablecoin, a euro stablecoin, a dollar stablecoin, etc.

Despite the option mentioned in the statement above, Marcus also said that it was not necessarily the new preferred direction to the group, as reported by Reuters. The project leader reportedly stated that their main goal is to generate a more efficient system of payments.

On Monday, the nonprofit board that oversees the project, the Libra Association, said that there’s nothing new to share for now.

According to Dante Disparte, Libra Association’s head of policy and communications, there is a long runway of launches and they are actively engaged with policymakers as well as regulators worldwide. He added that the goal is to create a digital system for payment that meets or exceeds existing standards for financial stability, consumer protections, as well as the prevention of illicit finance and money laundering; and at the same time, it still preserves national sovereignty over monetary policy.

Earlier this month, some of the Libra Association’s founding members dropped out of the project, including Mastercard, Visa, Stripe, eBay, and PayPal. This incident took place following increasing criticism of Facebook’s cryptocurrency, which the social giant unveiled in June, immediately meeting skepticism from nonprofits, regulators, as well as politicians.

Facebook refused to give comments.