The director of Libra defends the Facebook cryptocurrency

R: We hear about the risk to the currencies of the most fragile economies. But the first thing a state does when it wants to prevent its currency from weakening is to apply exchange control (and) nothing prevents it from setting up a blockade of the trading platforms of the Libra, if it seems necessary. (…) It is important to remember that the blockchain allows a high level of transparency on transactions. This is a new technology, it is normal for regulators to be vigilant. That's why we announced the Libra project a year before its launch. We knew we had to work with the regulators. But if, for example, the European Central Bank (ECB) denies us the right to operate in Europe, we will accept it. We do not intend to act as pirates, we respect the legislation.

Q: How are your negotiations with the different regulators going?

R: We are based in Geneva, so we started talking to the Finma (Financial Market Supervisory Authority, Ed), who identified us as a payment system, and not as a bank or otherwise. Therefore, we will be able to initiate the registration process by incorporating the necessary rules for this purpose. Until now, most regulators in the world did not raise the issue of crypto-currencies, simply because the volume of transactions was not significant and so they were waiting for it. to be pronounced. But now our customers are important enough that the competent authorities decide to define a framework (…) We also want to prevent the Libra from falling into the volatility of other cryptocurrencies. Since this is a means of payment, for example for online shopping, we must guarantee users that they will not lose money if they own the book. We will attach it to a basket of five currencies (US dollar, euro, yen, pound sterling, Singapore dollar, Ed) to ensure its stability (…)

Q: Whatever the regulatory aspects, what are the next steps before the actual launch?

R: We must first finalize our governance rules. This is a subject on which the 28 members are currently working (…). Then comes the whole technical aspect, with the establishment of validation nodes (transactions, Ed), in each of our members, selected to host these nodes for their large computing capabilities and to have the habit of managing Aspects Then the nodes will have to be badembled, then the test phase of the functionality and results will come. Our goal is that, when launched in mid-2020, we have the ability to handle approximately 1,000 transactions per second and then exceed that number.