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The head of the Libra Association, led by Facebook, responded to claims that the cryptocurrency project was threatening countries' financial stability.
In an interview given Thursday to the French daily Les Echos, Bertrand Perez, general director and director of operations of the association, expressed his concerns about the possible disruption of monetary policy of central banks with currencies included in the reserve of Libra – a basket of loyal coins and state bonds that will safeguard the digital currency Libra.
Such statements "do not seem justified to us," he said. "It is their monetary policies that will influence Libra through the basket and not the opposite."
Perez justified the remarks by offering details on the reserve, which would include the US dollar, the euro, the yen, the pound sterling and the Singapore dollar (but not the Chinese yuan).
The reserve, he said, will be invested in the currencies of the basket and in the public debt "in the very short term" (less than a year) of the countries of these currencies. At most, the reserve would amount to "probably not more than $ 200 billion," Prerez said, although it provides a range of "tens of billions" and more.
Although the reserve may seem huge, he said it was actually a "low" amount in global financial markets. "We will not become a new BlackRock," added Perez in reference to the US investment management giant, with assets under management of about $ 6.84 billion.
The head of the Association for Libra also spoke of what could happen in the event of a crash of one of the currencies included in the basket.
"If there is a catastrophe on a currency or a crisis between now and the Libra [launch]we could remove it from the basket, but this decision should be put to the vote and taken by a two-thirds majority of the members of the association, "he said. While the association has not yet decided how the basket should be used, the US dollar "should be very important, about half," according to Perez.
Currently, with 28 member companies, including leading companies such as Visa, MasterCard, Paypal and Uber, Libra wants to have 100 next year.
These people will be selected "objectively", Perez said, "on the basis of rules and criteria defined according to their areas of activity", such as NGOs, business entities and business groups. chains of blocks. Libya also saw more than 100 applications for membership in the association, with companies having to pay "at least $ 10 million".
Of course, since the project was officially announced, the regulators have caused a huge setback to Libra. The French Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, said Thursday (probably after the interview) that, due to the threat to monetary sovereignty, "we can not allow the development of Libra on European soil ".
In the article, Perez addressed these issues, stating that Libra had deliberately planned to launch its initial service one year after the publication of the white paper in June "to solve all these problems".
He added that Libra was about to be authorized as a payment system in Switzerland, but that there was still much to be done in terms of regulation.
Still, "we are firmly maintaining our launch schedule, between the end of the first half and the end of 2020," said Perez.
Image of the Balance via Shutterstock
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