Mark Carney: “Facebook's cryptocurrency will meet the highest standards of regulation”20.06.2019

According to Bank of England chairman Mark Carney (Mark Carney), Facebook's cryptocurrency initiative can meet the “highest standards” in world regulation.

According to the Financial Times report, Carney said during a meeting of Central Banks in Portugal that he remains “unbiased” with respect to Facebook cryptocurrency, recognizing that at the present time global payment systems are not perfect. However, he said that Facebook will inevitably meet the highest standards of regulation if the company manages to attract users.

Carney added that the UK central bank will “very carefully” examine the Facebook cryptocurrency payment plan and will cooperate with global forces, including the G7 countries, the Bank for International Settlements, the International Monetary Fund, and the Financial Stability Board.

He also raised the question of how Facebook will be able to provide measures to combat money laundering, while protecting the confidentiality of user data. Note that Carney gave his comments shortly after Facebook presented the White Paper of the Libra cryptocurrency project, which should be launched next year.

A few hours after Carney’s announcement, European financial regulators raised concerns about the possibility of Libra becoming a shadow bank and asked for a closer look at the project. The legislator, who heads the Financial Services Committee of the US House of Representatives, even asked Facebook to suspend the development of Libra until a hearing is held.

In Russia, the upcoming launch of cryptocurrency Facebook has also caused a certain response from the authorities. In particular, the chairman of the lower house of parliament for financial markets, Anatoly Aksakov, said that Facebook could not use Facebook cryptocurrency as a means of payment.