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LONDON: Libra, a Facebook virtual unit already heavily attacked by US President Donald Trump and global regulators, is also facing skepticism from the cryptocurrency community.
One theme – besides Brexit – has dominated discussions between influential players in London financial technology or the financial technology industry, as part of their annual meeting: the future of virtual currencies.
"Can I just ask you to raise your hand if you do not want to use Libra?" Asked the moderator at the recent "FinTech Week" in London.
In the room, filled with a hundred experts and media who closely follow the sector, about two-thirds of the participants raised their hands to express their distrust of the emerging currency.
Helen Disney, founder and director of Unblocked Events, which promotes blockchain technology that powers many crypto-currencies, has recognized growing doubts about who would monitor and regulate Libra's operations.
People are "concerned about the functioning of governance …," Disney told AFP.
"The cryptocurrency community is very libertarian in its thinking," she said. "It is empowering the people, democratizing finance, moving away from the big banks and businesses that control the economy."
Last week's rally took place a month after Facebook announced to the world its plans for virtual currency.
Libra, which is widely seen as a challenger to the world's largest Bitcoin player, is expected to be launched in the first half of 2020.
While Bitcoin is decentralized, Libra will be co-managed by 100 corporate partners, including Facebook's new financial services division, Calibra.
The companies behind Libra – which will have a basket of real world currencies – include giants Visa, MasterCard and PayPal payments, as well as Lyft and Uber taxis.
To access Libra on smartphones, users will use a virtual wallet that will also be named Calibra.
While Facebook has a huge customer base spread around the world that should facilitate the absorption of Libra, it is also plagued by privacy issues that could make users hesitate.
"I can not wait for a cryptocurrency with Uber's ethics, Paypal's censorship resistance and Visa's centralization, all linked to Facebook's proven confidentiality," said Sarah Jamie Lewis, head of the credit bureau. of the non-profit research organization Open Intimité.
Libra has meanwhile raised eyebrows among global financial regulators, including the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the US Federal Reserve.
But Disney thinks that Libra will finally force regulators to come up with clear regulatory guidelines, as the crypto-currency community demands.
"We have long been waiting for a clearer signal (regarding) the regulation of crypto-currencies and digital badets," she said.
But James Bennett, head of the Bitbadist cryptocurrency research firm, says Libra should not be seen in the same way as Bitcoin.
"In the long run, people might realize that Libra is not a cryptocurrency," Bennett said at the FinTech Week event.
"A real cryptocurrency must withstand the attacks of all parties, from sovereign states to large corporations," he said, adding that "cryptocurrency is a type of currency used to transfer value to the Internet. which can not be stopped, confiscated or destroyed by a single entity. "
Meanwhile, Trump launched a vicious attack on virtual currencies, criticizing them for their alleged obscure nature and arguing that Libra had no status or reliability, unlike the dollar.
"I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other crypto – currencies, which are not money, and whose value is very volatile and based on air," commented Trump in a tweet Thursday.
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